Drugs and the Internet

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VIA
Drugs and the Internet

• Nature
• Extent
• Implications
• Online Pharming

Robert F. Forman, Ph.D. A. Thomas McLellan,
PhD Treatment Research Institute University of
Pennsylvania
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The Internet

• 110 million internet users in U.S.
• 75 of teens are online
• Web phones will double use in 3 years

So Internet access and use are going up
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Drug Use?

• What about Drug Use?
• National trends from Household Survey
• Types of drugs used
• Relative rates of use

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Marijuana 12
Pharmaceutical Opiates 45
Cocaine 6
Heroin lt1
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The Opioids

• How Potent Are Pharmaceuticals?
• 1 bag of heroin ( 70 pure) equals
• 8 12 tabs of Vicodin (Lortab)
• 5 6 tabs of Percodan (Percoset)
• 1/4 1/2 tab of Oxycodone (Oxycontin)
• 1/10 Patch of Fentanyl (Duragesic)

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Internet Drug Use?

• Relationship?
• . and So What?
• Whats all this have to do with parents?

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The Internet Abusable Drug Sales

• Easy Access
• Relative Anonymity
• Service industry devoted to keeping purchases
  confidential
• Rented mailboxes
• Money wiring services
• Encryption services
• International, federal, state jurisdictional
  issues compromise enforcement

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
Part 1 - Tracking Interest Using Search Engines

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Research Questions
Can we measure track internet drug activity?
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The Key to this Research
Google Ranking Technology
PageRank is an objective measure of a web
pages citation importance that corresponds well
with people's subjective idea of
importance. --Sergey Brin and Lawrence
Page Founders of Google
Brin S, Page L. The anatomy of a large-scale
hypertextual web search engine. Proceedings of
the Seventh International World Wide Web
Conference 1998 Apr 14-18 Brisbane, Australia
Available from URL http//www7.scu.edu.au/progr
amme/fullpapers/1921/com1921.htm
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Method

• 1 - Used four search terms
• codeine
• vicodin
• oxycontin
• marijuana
• 2 - Added No Prescription to each
• 3 - Examined first 20 100 sites and categorized
  each as
• Retail
• Portal
• Information

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NPW Monitoring Strategies
Variety of Research Methods

• First 100 Links
• First 20 Links
• Geopolitical trends
• Adwords
• Web Page Results
• Patient Interviews
• Content Analysis

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Codeine
9,200,000
No Prescription Codeine
5,500,000
Retail Sites 80
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Oxycontin
4,800,000
2,400,000
No Prescription Oxycontin
Retail Sites 65
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Vicodin
12,800,000
No Prescription Vicodin
10,000,000
Retail Sites 88
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The Opioids

• How Potent Are Pharmaceuticals?
• 1 bag of heroin (_at_ 70 pure) equals
• 8 12 tabs of Vicodin (Lortab)
• 5 6 tabs of Percodan (Percoset)
• 1/4 1/2 tab of Oxycodone (Oxycontin)
• 1/10 Patch of Fentanyl (Duragesic)

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
Part 2 What Do The Sites Look Like?

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BioMagic Company Policy
free samples to new customers we send you
10 tablets if you pay, we send you 20
tablets

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BioMagic Company Policy
Is it only Pharmaceuticals? Oh nooo.

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
Come Onnn This has to be a hoax, Like the
Nigerian Bank deal Right?

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
Part 3 Who Are These Guys?

20 Within US Mostly Marijuana Sites 80
Foreign Caribbean, Former Soviet, India, Pakistan
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Internet Drug Trafficking
Owners?
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The Internet and Increased Drug Use

• Part 4
• Why Doesnt Somebody Do Something?
• The Press
• The Police
• Customs

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• Rush Limbaugh enters treatment for prescription
  opioid dependence
• Washington Post releases 5-part series on buying
  opioid medications online

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
Impact of 2004 Arrest of Largest Internet Dealer

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The Bust
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When Did the Arrest Occur?
April 2004 Arrests
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• March 2, 2005
• UN International Narcotics Control Board

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
OK But there must be a way to intercept these
drugs

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US Customs Photo
Prescription drugs interdicted in one morning at
one international mail facility (2005).
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The Internet Abusable Drug Sales

• Easy Access
• Relative Anonymity
• Service industry devoted to keeping purchases
  confidential
• Rented mailboxes
• Money wiring services
• Encryption services
• International, federal, state jurisdictional
  issues compromise enforcement
• Many Billion dollar market

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The Internet and Increased Drug Use
Well, Thank you for Sharing!

What should this mean for parents?
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Drugs Via the Internet
Parents - You Cant Count on Government to fix
this!

• Very complex many agencies are working hard to
  address this
• But - it wont happen fast.
• Parents HAVE to monitor their kids Internet
  activity
• Parents HAVE to pre-warn their kids about drug
  marketing

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Drugs Via the Internet
Parents - You Cant Count on Government to fix
this!

• Parents HAVE to know about drugs particularly
  pharmaceuticals
• Seeds Marijuana, Hashish
• Shrooms Peyote
• X Ecstasy
• Vitamin V Vicodan

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Drugs Via the Internet
Parents

• Remember, whats going on in the White House
  is never as important as whats going on in your
  house
• Former First Lady, Barbara Bush

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- The End -