The War On Drugs – The Cyber Chapter
Posted by: Anthony Dowd
September 15, 2015
Those four words ‘The War On Drugs’ contain so much nonsense its surprising they don’t explode in confusion of clowns and balloons. Drugs have been tied to man’s ascent so intimately that we may as well have a ‘War On Thumbs’ or a ‘War On Large Brains’; indeed the highest order of intellectual development in western and eastern civilization was influenced by a variety of substances which are now illegal. This can only stunt our continued development as a species.
The War On Drugs officially started in 1971 but criminalization began in Britain in the 1920’s as an attempt to control Opium. Drugs were seen as nasty, foreign substances that would corrupt the general population. So the efforts to control drugs span about one hundred years, a pathetic amount of time compared to our time spent enjoying and exploring them.
Once America weighed in with its horrible propaganda and it’s clearly industry influenced politics it started to get nasty, people had their fear of other races exploited and a promising, green industry in Hemp was dismantled. Slowly people started to reclaim their right to use their bodies and minds as they wished, really the most basic freedom. Think hippies, think the 60’s; they had the passion and numbers but they lacked one important thing, weapons, this is a war after all…
Technology wins wars, Genghis Khan wasn’t the greatest conqueror of all time because he could scream the loudest or because he had the best ideas, it was because his tech was awesome, specifically the Mongolian double curved bow. We all know the tech we have can win this war, or at the very least make it impossible for the enemy to win. From the perspective of someone who was a boy in the nineties TOR, PGP and any bitcoin cleaner are the three coolest programs I have ever used, I mean, this is James Bond stuff here! I encrypted something? It goes beyond cool, it gives a feeling of potency and of self-determination. Here is a community not only working independent of the system but in opposition to it.
Impossible win scenarios in traditional war are traditionally fought by Guerrilla troops whose mode of operation is manoeuvrability and individual initiative, this is exactly the tactics now being employed by Dark Net markets. It’s like a hydra, the mythical beast which caused Hercules so many problems, every head chopped off results in the growth of two more. This is what happened with Silk Road in 2013. I was a noob at the time and had just discovered the existence of Dark Net markets from BBC radio no less (Cheers guys!) and I have to say that FBI ‘Screen of Death’ nearly put me off the whole business for like two whole minutes. It’s obvious that the death of Silk Road just created opportunities for other online market places. The process being very similar to when a huge tree falls in a jungle and in doing so provides space and light for the new saplings. The industry lost its biggest player and barely missed a beat, a pure testament to the determination of the people involved. That which does not destroy you only makes you stronger.
A bigger challenge was just around the corner though. The closure of evolution was something I experienced personally and the worse thing? This was a prime tactical unit taken down, not by the enemy, but from within, destroyed by greed. Evolution was a good site, technically accomplished with a nice community and some excellent vendors, it was brought low by a few people in power. This exposed a weakness in our current system and that is the weakness of anonymity, no one at a dark market can be held accountable and I suppose this is a necessary flaw, or is it? Maybe it should be viewed as a challenge, not a technical challenge but an organisational one. With my own limited understanding of website mechanics I could never hope to implement an alternative but maybe someone else could. All it would take is a dark market where the admins and management have no access to customers and vendors funds. Maybe even a non-profit dark market? Or is that too revolutionary for this sector of society?
Whatever the outcome I believe Dark Markets will continue to evolve and confound the governments that try to control them, power is slowly leaking back to the people and Dark Markets are on the front line of this conflict.
When all substances are legalised it will be a happy day, part of the human experience will be re-integrated but it will also be a sad time because a whole subculture of resistance will be erased. That time is not now though, there’s a lot of war between now and then.
The author of this article also wrote the e-book “The Unusual Thief” – A drug fuelled fantasy trip through an alternate dimension. If you would like to read this book for free use the coupon code GU34Z on the purchase screen on this link.
Updated: 2015-09-15