Though overall drug sales via the dark web appear to be rather resilient, darknet markets are highly volatile and frequently appear only to disappear quickly.Unlike major e-commerce platforms on the clear net, darknet marketplaces typically have short lifespans – averaging just 1 year and 4 months…
Darknet sales, mostly drug related, increased to around US$2.5 billion in 2025 – and are increasingly driven by wholesale sales while the bulk of retail online sales takes place on social media.
Darknet market sales (mostly drug-related) reached some US…
Heroin and morphine seizures remain concentrated in Asia.In line with the concentration of opium production in Asia, almost two thirds (64 per cent) of global heroin and morphine seizures occurred in Asia in 2024, notably in South-Western Asia and, to a lesser extent, in East and South-East Asia.In…
Seizures of key pharmaceutical opioids show distinct regional patterns by substance.While fentanyl seizures remain overwhelmingly concentrated in North America (> 99 per cent), other pharmaceutical opioids dominate seizures in different regions: codeine in West and Central Africa and South Asia…
Cannabis dominates the global number of seizure cases, followed by ATS (notably methamphetamine) and cocaine while cannabis and cocaine dominate seizures in terms of total weight.
Myanmar is now the world’s largest opium producer, followed by Afghanistan, Mexico and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.In Myanmar, opium production continues to be concentrated in the eastern parts of the country, notably in Shan State and in Kachin. This pattern has not changed over the last…
Overall, of the four major modes of transport used for drug trafficking – by land, water, air and mail (including courier services) – land or maritime routes (depending on the specific drug) dominate in terms of volume.Around 2024, there appeared to be an increased preference for smaller shipments…
Opium production and opiate seizures are closely linked, but stockpiling has partly mitigated recent supply shocks.Opiate seizures have generally moved in parallel with opium production over time, but production has been far more volatile. Following the transfer of power in Afghanistan in 2021 and…
Opium prices show diverging trends, reflecting shifting supply dynamics across producing countries.Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar, increased by 17 per cent in 2025 and more than doubled since 2020, with increases reported across all poppy producing states; this was mirrored by a similar…
Trend data on seizures suggest that the trafficking in (and misuse of) pharmaceutical opioids increased strongly over the last decade, reaching record levels in 2024.The largest volumes of pharmaceutical opioids were seized in Africa (60 per cent – mostly in West and Central Africa) and Asia (33…
The weight of cocaine seizures increased by 70 per cent between 2020 and 2024, reflecting an ongoing expansion of both the supply and demand for cocaine at the global level.
Seizures of opiates, expressed in heroin equivalents, fell by 65 per…
The dark web, consisting of a multitude of darknet markets, is part of the deep web, and can be used for a large number of illegal activities, including drug trafficking.The dark web is part of the deep web and can be accessed using specialized tools such as the TOR browser; while access itself is…
