Technology, proximity and drug supply in Australia

• In Event: Roundtable: Technology and Rural Criminology

Abstract

Technology is changing the shape of drug markets and as a result for some people local proximity of supply is potentially less important in relation to their access to illicit drugs. When people think of the relationship between technology and drug supply they commonly imagine the mysterious ‘dark net’ or ‘dark web’, but increasingly illicit drug transactions are occurring through the use of ‘apps’ and on the surface web. Leafedin.org is a website that connects users and sellers through geolocation on the surface web and through an app. It is popular in Australian metropolitan areas and some regional centres. We contrast how this platform is used across these locations and consider how and whether this technology might impact on everyday access to cannabis markets in regional Australia and how they are policed or regulated. Changes in availability are an important consideration in a policy environment that is concerned with how alternative justice responses might be deployed to reduce the harms currently associated with illicit drugs.

Authors

• Andrew Childs, Griffith University

• Melissa Bull, Queensland University of Technology