While there are an increasing number of apps designed to help drug and alcohol users in recovery , drug dealers are also taking advantage of apps to increase their customer base. In a article for the Guardian, Leah Borromeo monstris explored the use of such mainstream apps as Instagram, Tinder, Kik and Depop for drug dealing. I have just 4 April updated the post with another app running in to legal challenges — weedmap.
On Instagram, people looking to buy drugs simply search via hashtags such as weed4sale or the names of the drugs themselves mdma, mephedrone etc. The customer then contacts the owner of the account and the deal moves along through direct messages. In the case of Tinder, potential customers can swipe through profiles until they find a dealer and match with them.
Buyers can either meet face-to-face or pay online and have their purchases posted to them. While online payments such as bitcoin and pre-paid gift cards such as Vanilla Visa are encrypted, Ms Borromeo says that more traceable measures such as unattributed bank transfers and PayPal are also used.
In the UK, this means of selling New Psychoactive Substances or legal highs will soon probably be illegal once the government decides to implement the New Psychoactive Substance Act. It should have come into force on 6 April and is now scheduled for some time in Spring this year — the reasons for the delay are set out in this Guardian article by Alan Travis.
In addition to the mis use of mainstream apps, there are also a number of apps dedicated to accessing drugs. For a full rundown, check out this article by Annie Lesser but dedicated apps which piqued my interest for their ingenuity and entrepreneurship include:. Weedmaps sometimes called Yelp for pot the smartphone app Weedmaps enables users to locate dispensaries and delivery services selling the green stuff. The company has been among the breakout success stories of legalization thus far.
