How much fentanyl is available on the darknet?

A new Australian Institute of Criminology Statistical Bulletin written by Mathew Ball, Roderic Broadhurst and Harshit Trivedi of the ANU Cybercrime Observatory shows just how much fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is available on the darknet.

Search engines cannot access darknet markets, but they are accessible via ‘The Onion Router’, which masks the IP address of the user. As the Statistical Bulletin notes, ‘anonymity is further ensured by the use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Litecoin.’ Using Cybercrime Observatory data, the Bulletin identifies a small but significant fentanyl market on the darknet.

The research was featured on the ABC’s Radio National and on its AM program on Friday, 12 April.

“A Particularly worrying sign from this study was that we found an enormous amount really of a substance known as carfentanil, a very potent form of fentanyl,” said Rod in the AM interview.

Listen to the full interviews on AM and Radio National.

Read the entire Statistical Bulletin on the AIC website.