A Geographic Analysis of Drug Trafficking Patterns on the TOR Network

Bibliographic Data

ID4490123
AuthorsDiana S Dolliver, Steven P Ericson, Katherine L Love
Year2018
Volume108
Issue1
Pages45-68
Publication date2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/gere.12241
OpenAlexW2549646029
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited45

As globalization processes continue to impact patterns in drug‐trafficking operations worldwide, a cyber‐based dimension of the drug trade has recently emerged via the Tor Network. This study employed geovisualization and exploratory spatial data analysis to examine drug distributions of heroin, cocaine, new psychoactive substances, and prescription drugs advertised on Agora, the largest international marketplace on the Tor Network at the time of data collection. Data were collected using webcrawling software and mapped to determine the presence of statistical outliers internationally or hotspots within Europe. Global Moran's I testing revealed that drugs sourced from Europe were randomly distributed. Box maps confirmed the visual analysis that six countries (including Canada and the United States) dominated world listings across the four drug types. Globally, heroin and cocaine markets were found to be almost exclusively retail based, while new psychoactive substances and prescription drugs were sold from countries with established pharmaceutical and chemical industries

Business · Criminology · Data mining · Data science · Drug · Drug trafficking · Environmental health · Geography · Geovisualization · Heroin · Medical prescription · Visualization · Computer Science · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Pharmacology · Psychology

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