Instantly Hooked? Freebies and Samples of Opioids, Cannabis, MDMA, and Other Drugs in an Illicit E-Commerce Market

• Date: 01 April 2018
• Author: Isak Ladegaard
• DOI: 10.1177/0022042617746975
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042617746975

Journal of Drug Issues

2018, Vol. 48(2) 226 –245

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0022042617746975

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Article

Instantly Hooked? Freebies and

Samples of Opioids, Cannabis,

MDMA, and Other Drugs in an

Illicit E-Commerce Market

Isak Ladegaard1

Abstract

Do drug dealers entice nonusers with free samples? Police, the popular press, and social media

users say so, but crime researchers have found little support for this theory and argue instead

that sample distribution is an unsound strategy for illegal market business. But what about

in digital drug markets, where operational logics are based on sophisticated anonymization

technology and reputation systems? The author collected data from a large e-commerce

website for drugs over 305 days in 2014 and 2015 and documents that (a) drug dealers give

away samples of all major substance categories and (b) sample distribution increases vendor

sales for prescription drugs and opioid-based painkillers. To explore possible explanations of

these findings, the author collected data from the market’s online forum and analyzed 175

discussions (2,218 posts) about samples. Among the findings is that samples are preferably given

to reputable review writers, or “drug critics.”

Keywords

illegal markets, addiction, cybercrime, marketing, drug trade, cryptomarkets

Introduction

For nearly 100 years, the drug dealer has been portrayed as someone who is “pushing” products

onto prospective customers (Coomber, 2003). In the 1920s, both the New York Times and an

authoritative source on opium addiction stated that a common practice in drug markets is to give

away free drugs to get people “hooked” (New York Times, 1924), or “addicted” (Terry & Pellens,

1928). Similar claims were made in the following decades, also after Coomber wrote about this

in 2003. In 2016, for example, a drug prevention program official claimed that contemporary

drug dealers use “free samples” as a “marketing” strategy. Anecdotal evidence was provided:

Allegedly, an Arkansas dealer visited a former drug user in his home and gave him a free sample.

“Naturally, [he] became a customer again” (Birkenshaw, 2016). In 2017, a Philadelphia police

officer said that “dealers will occasionally give out samples to get the buyers to frequent them”

(Farr, 2017). Social media has also perpetuated the pusher image. In September 2015, a Kentucky-

based man posted a picture of colorful pills on Facebook and warned that “if your kids get these

for halloween, it’s not candy” (Bagwell, 2015). The message traveled overseas, including to

1Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Isak Ladegaard, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.

Email: isak.ladegaard@bc.edu

746975JODXXX10.1177/0022042617746975Journal of Drug IssuesLadegaard

research-article2017

Ladegaard 227

South Africa, where a social media user shared the same picture and warned that a “deadly new

drug” was given out at schools. Cape Town police investigated the issue, but quickly concluded

that there were no specific cases of such drugs being distributed (Serra, 2015). The following

month, a Missouri Police Department tweeted the same picture and wrote: “If your kids get these

for Halloween candy, they ARE NOT CANDY!!! They are the new shapes of ‘Ecstasy’ and can

kill kids through overdoses!!!” (Figure 1). The post was picked up by numerous media outlets

Figure 1. Police warning: These are not Halloween candies.