Cannabis and Cannabinoid Products on the Dark Web

"Using cannabis- and tobacco-related keywords as search parameters on selected dark web markets, a total of 3,074 unique selling listing posts were collected from Archetyp, Incognito, Royal, and Wethenorth. After manually annotating to confirm listings were selling-related posts for cannabis and other illicit substances, we identified 2,954 (96.10% of the entire dataset) selling posts analyzed for specific product characteristics.

"Based on our search and data collection parameters that focused on cannabis and vaping keywords, CDPs (89.00%, n = 2629) had the highest volume of selling posts, though we also detected selling posts that included the sale of illicit or prescription drugs (7.55%, n = 223), and psychedelics (3.45%, n = 102). We detected noncannabis products in many of these dark web marketplace listings as cannabis products often were included in a general 'drug' product listing category that included listings for cannabis products coinciding with other illicit and prescription drug products. Further, we observed that some dark web vendors may have included noncannabis product in a cannabis-specific listing in error or possibly to expose cannabis users to these products. Additionally, we cross-referenced vendors’ sales posts with their product listings to identify the types of products marketed by each user on a specific dark web market. Detailed information is available in the Supplementary File and includes information on MDMA, cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription-controlled substances, and psychedelics. Additionally, certain keywords used may have overlapping features across multiple substance use product classes (e.g., 'cart' is a small, disposable container that could contain cannabis, nicotine, or psychedelic DMT). Other product listings that were considered 'noise' in this dataset (e.g., listings that were not associated with the sale of cannabis or other drug-related products) included listings for debit/credit cards, identification cards, VPN services, etc., and were excluded from further analysis. The breakdown for specific cannabis, illicit (e.g., MDMA, methamphetamine) and prescription drugs (e.g., Oxycodone, Gabapentin, Xanax), and psychedelic products (e.g., psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine) is provided in the Supplementary File."