“New Psychoactive Substances (NPS): Building Knowledge and Evidence Base Training Through Research” JUST/2013/ISEC/DRUGS/AG6411 Mr. Stelios Sergides Member of Cyprus Antidrugs Council May 2016 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. 1

2 Cyprus Antidrugs Council Cyprus Prevalence Survey on NPS among youth Qualitative Research: Monitoring Anonymous Online Drug Marketplaces Drug Law Enforcement Unit Training & Exchange of Best Practice Training of key-players (private and public postal companies, customs) in interventions for NPS- related cases State General Laboratory Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Added Value Survey on NPS prevalence o On a national level, there was no estimation on the prevalence of NPS use in the general population. On a European level, only few countries have an estimation of this prevalence. Therefore this EU funded project, will provide knowledge in this field Qualitative Research o On a European level, there is limited research on the Anonymous Online Drug Marketplaces, therefore this research will provide knowledge and understanding of how these marketplaces function and their role concerning the global illicit drugs market Training & Exchange of Best Practice o On a national level, the project will assist in the effective management of NPS- related cases. Supply reduction interventions will be reinforced especially as regards preventing NPS trafficking 3 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Survey: NPS Prevalence among youth 4 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Quantitative Research: “NPS Prevalence among Youth in Cyprus” Aim: Estimation of the prevalence of NPS among youth (age: 18-35) in Cyprus Objectives: o The extend of NPS use among the youth population in Cyprus o Socio-demographic characteristics of these users 5 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Methodology A.Sample 1000 participants (516 men, 484 women) Age: Residence: areas under the control of the Republic of Cyprus B. Questionnaire Face to face interviews EMCDDA tool 6 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Main Results 7

Knowledge on NPS 8 Synthetic Cannabinoids  most popular 2/3 of the sample are aware of NPS Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

NPS 9 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Form of NPS 10 Ερώτηση 3: Πώς έμοιαζε η ουσία που χρησιμοποιήσατε τους τελευταίους 12 μήνες; Βάση: Όλο το δείγμα Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

NPS Supply source 11 Ερώτηση 4: Πώς προμηθευτήκατε αυτές τις ουσίες που χρησιμοποιήσατε τους τελευταίους 12 μήνες; Βάση: Όλο το δείγμα Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

NPS Use& Use of Illicit substances 12

Comparison with General Population Survey: o Similar results: 11% of the population used an illicit substances (12% in the project’s survey). o Concerning, NPS use among the general population in Cyprus there was no available data until today => Covers the Gap Drug and Law Enforcement Unit Data o In 2014, there were 20 seizures of NPS in Cyprus, most them being small quantities, except in three cases. One of these cases involved a seizure of 99 kilos of mephedrone 13 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Qualitative Research 14 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Anonymous Online Web- “Deep web” 15 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. The anonymous internet is a safe, encrypted network which protects your IP address and location (using the TOR software) It looks like Google, the difference being that browsing is conducted anonymously

Illicit Markets on the “Deep Web” 16 On “Deep Web” there are illicit markets that sell, among other things, drugs The most notorious market was «Silk Road». Access to this market was done only through Tor, in order for users to remain anonymous and safe. This market became available in Silk Road or other similar markets can be seen as the “Amazon” or “eBay” for purchasing illicit drugs. The FBI shut down Silk Road in October Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Objectives Monitor NPS on the illicit markets Description of the illicit markets Monitor 8 vendors 17 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Objective1: Monitor NPS in illicit markets 18 Monitor NPS in 8 markets 1 st surveilance, October 2015: 6 markets (Abraxas, Nucleus Market, Alphabay, Middle earth, Outlaw and Agora) different types of NPS - phenethylamines was the most popular category followed by indolalkylamines, benzodiazepines και cathinones different vendors were selling NPS - USA, UK and Czech Republic countries of origin - Approximately 24% of NPS were through Europe - Approximately 57% of NPS could be delivered worldwide 2 nd surveilance, Μarch 2016: 2 markets (Valhalla and Dream Market) different types of NPS - phenethylamines and benzodiazepines most popular categories - 60 different vendors selling NPS - China, UK and USA countries of origin Most NPS could be delivered worldwide

Objective 2: 5 Markets Description : Nucleus Market, Alphabay, Outlaw Market, Valhalla και Dream Market  Access to Markets: o In all markets there was a possibility to create an account (with username and password) o For searching purposes “GRAMS” was used: A search engine for illicit markets (similar to “google”) o Also Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) was used, for providing encryption protection o The safety of these markets was stressed constantly 19 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Objective 2: Market Description  Main Markets Characteristics: o Online drug supply cancels the need for a mediator. The intersection occurs between the vendor and the consumer directly o The “advantage” of these markets is that vendors are under constant scrutiny. If something goes wrong with their sales (e.g. quality of the product, delivery) then this is reflected in customers’ feedback. For this reason, there is a notion that there are better quality “products” on these markets than in the streets o Comments and feedback of the vendors as well as of the markets play a role in maintaining markets’ regulation and rules 20 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

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…Objective 2: Market Description 22 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Objective 3: Monitor 8 vendors Monitoring 8 vendors in three different timeframes, from 2 markets: Alphabay και Nucleus Market Vendors were provided with consumers’ feedback (ratings ranging from 1 to 5). Most of them had high ratings (4.6 to 5/5). Most vendors were active in several markets Vendors had from minimum 5 to maximum 33 illicit substances to sell, and accordingly, from minimum 5 to maximum 16 NPS 50% of the substances that were available were NPS Four vendors were providing substances from Europe and the rest from Asia and USA 23 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Objective 3: Monitor 8 vendors 24 Most vendors, were urging consumers to use encryption system (Pretty Good Privacy) for written communication Also they were urged to use “Finalizing Early” process, providing in some cases motive for doing so: ‘If you do FE however, I'll be sure to include you some extra weight as a thanks’. Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

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Limitations Some markets were shut down during the research, making it even harder to monitor vendors Popularity and traffic of the markets changed rapidly. The research tried to focus on markets with high levels of popularity and traffic At times there were difficulties in accessing the markets (they requested submitting personal information such as address) Markets that did not have English as their main language were excluded 26 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

Conclusions NPS prevalence among youth in Cyprus is low. There is a need for Demand and Supply Reduction measures in order to prevent consequences of NPS use The anonymous internet “deep web” is becoming a global drug market which changes and evolves rapidly. This creates a new challenge for law enforcement agencies as well as policy makers, due to the anonymity and security that it provides as well as its easy accessibility 27 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης.

28 Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Concluding comments The two surveys- and the project as whole- have provided valuable information that will be used on a national level, through the drafting of the new National Action Plan in 2017 and National Drug Strategy (Demand and Supply Reduction Pillars) It is expected that the results will shed some light in aspects concerning the European dimension of the phenomenon

ISEC Project: Cyprus Antidrugs Council: Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Πρόγραμμα “ISEC” Prevention of and Fight against Crime, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. 29