15% drug deliveries done in Chennai through apps

CHENNAI: A study by University of Madras has found that drug dealers in the city are using delivery apps to supply addicts. At least 15% of drug deliveries are through these apps, though 75% is still delivered in person by the drug sellers and dealers, it said. And, 6% of respondents said they received drugs through regular courier services after paying dealers online.
Titled 'Role of Social Media and Payment and Delivery Applications in Drug Abuse', the study carried out by the university's department of criminology found that addicts were using WhatsApp (77%), Telegram (43%), Instagram (35%), Snapchat (13%), Facebook (13%) and X (3%) to source drugs.They use UPI to pay.

Dealers also use dark web or Tor search engines, which make it difficult to trace the IP addresses, researchers said. The study was conducted among 97 drug users over 2022 and 2023. Of 300 identified drug users, 171 were going online to purchase drugs. Of them, 97 agreed to take part in the survey.
Ganja or heroin, LSD or meth, online is the store
Receiving a package of clothes or other goods is a common sight in hostels, houses and apartment complexes, and so are parcels containing narcotic drugs. Drug dealers and users, mostly youngsters, are now switching to online mode through social media apps and paying using digital applications.

Unlike physical mode, where buyers need to visit a predetermined place to get drugs, the online mode offers anonymity. An unknown person such as a delivery staff could be delivering a parcel with ganja, LSD, cocaine, meth or heroin without knowing what is inside the parcel.
Of the nearly 300 drug users in the city surveyed by researchers, 171 were buying them online. The survey was conducted among drug users in 2022 and 2023. Of 97 respondents, 86 were between 17 years and 26 years.
The study —‘Role of social media and payment and delivery applications in drug abuse’, carried out by the department of criminology of University of Madras found that most addicts use popular social media sites to buy drugs.
“Ganja, LSD, cocaine, meth, heroin are available online. About 60% of them said they were buying drugs to enjoy with their friends while 30% of them said they were buying for a party,” said R Arul Raj, a researcher from the department of criminology.

Only six percent of respondents said they were buying drugs to sell. About 48% of the respondents said that they bought drugs one to five times in the past 30 days before participating in the survey, and 19% said they had bought it 6 to 10 times.

Drug sellers are using the dark web so that finding their IP addresses or any other digital footprint becomes tough, said Arul Raj. Drug sellers also possess good IT skills and communication skills. Researchers said drug users pay in advance to get the package and to avoid attention of cops on the prowl.
“Online sale of drugs may also lead to frequent and increasing drug abuse among youngsters and school children,” said professor M Srinivasan, department of criminology, University of Madras. Some teenage boys who were contacted to be part of the survey were asked about details of drugs available online. “The situation may soon spiral out of control and immediate measures need to be taken to address the issue,” he said.
“Drug abuse is not a recent phenomenon in the state. It’s a socio-cultural issue. We need to conduct a larger study on prevalence of drug abuse among various age groups, reasons, availability of drugs and source of drugs,” he said.
Researchers also suggest creating awareness of the health impacts of drugs, creating a healthy family environment, and monitoring all social media and search engines as possible measures of tackling the online sale of drugs.