Crowdsourcing black market prices for prescription opioids - PubMed (original) (raw)

Crowdsourcing black market prices for prescription opioids

Nabarun Dasgupta et al. J Med Internet Res. 2013.

Abstract

Background: Prescription opioid diversion and abuse are major public health issues in the United States and internationally. Street prices of diverted prescription opioids can provide an indicator of drug availability, demand, and abuse potential, but these data can be difficult to collect. Crowdsourcing is a rapid and cost-effective way to gather information about sales transactions. We sought to determine whether crowdsourcing can provide accurate measurements of the street price of diverted prescription opioid medications.

Objective: To assess the possibility of crowdsourcing black market drug price data by cross-validation with law enforcement officer reports.

Methods: Using a crowdsourcing research website (StreetRx), we solicited data about the price that site visitors paid for diverted prescription opioid analgesics during the first half of 2012. These results were compared with a survey of law enforcement officers in the Researched Abuse, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) System, and actual transaction prices on a "dark Internet" marketplace (Silk Road). Geometric means and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for comparing prices per milligram of drug in US dollars. In a secondary analysis, we compared prices per milligram of morphine equivalent using standard equianalgesic dosing conversions.

Results: A total of 954 price reports were obtained from crowdsourcing, 737 from law enforcement, and 147 from the online marketplace. Correlations between the 3 data sources were highly linear, with Spearman rho of 0.93 (P<.001) between crowdsourced and law enforcement, and 0.98 (P<.001) between crowdsourced and online marketplace. On StreetRx, the mean prices per milligram were US$3.29 hydromorphone, US$2.13 buprenorphine, US$1.57 oxymorphone, US$0.97 oxycodone, US$0.96 methadone, US$0.81 hydrocodone, US$0.52 morphine, and US$0.05 tramadol. The only significant difference between data sources was morphine, with a Drug Diversion price of US$0.67/mg (95% CI 0.59-0.75) and a Silk Road price of US$0.42/mg (95% CI 0.37-0.48). Street prices generally followed clinical equianalgesic potency.

Conclusions: Crowdsourced data provide a valid estimate of the street price of diverted prescription opioids. The (ostensibly free) black market was able to accurately predict the relative pharmacologic potency of opioid molecules.

Keywords: Internet; RADARS System; Silk Road; StreetRx; black market; crowdsourcing; drug abuse; economics; law enforcement; opioids; police; surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: StreetRx is entirely funded by the RADARS System (Denver, Colorado, USA), an independent nonprofit operation of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center (RMPDC), a division of Denver Health. StreetRx is operated under contract by Epidemico (Boston, Massachusetts, USA), a health data collection and analytics company. Authors of this paper include employees of the RADARS System and Epidemico. All datasets used in this publication are publicly available by contacting the RADARS System.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Screenshot of StreetRx - features street price data on diverted pharmaceutical controlled substances for public health research purposes.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Screenshot of Silk Road - an anonymous online marketplace where drugs, fireworks, and stolen goods are sold.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Correlation between the data sources: StreetRx reports, Drug Diversion survey, and Silk Road postings.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Mean price per milligram of each opioid analgesic, between the data sources. Numbers at the bottom of each bar indicate sample size.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. McDonald DC, Carlson KE. Estimating the prevalence of opioid diversion by "doctor shoppers" in the United States. PLoS One. 2013;8(7):e69241. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069241. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069241 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berge KH, Dillon KR, Sikkink KM, Taylor TK, Lanier WL. Diversion of drugs within health care facilities, a multiple-victim crime: patterns of diversion, scope, consequences, detection, and prevention. Mayo Clin Proc. 2012 Jul;87(7):674–82. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.03.013. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/22766087 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rigg KK, Kurtz SP, Surratt HL. Patterns of prescription medication diversion among drug dealers. Drugs (Abingdon Engl) 2012;19(2):144–155. doi: 10.3109/09687637.2011.631197. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/22665955 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration . Summary of National Findings. Rockville, MD: Health and Human Services (Office of Applied Studies); 2010. Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Volume I (NSDUH Series H-38A, HHS Publication No. SMA Findings) pp. 11–4856.
    1. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)‚ Department of Justice Schedules of controlled substances: rescheduling of buprenorphine from schedule V to schedule III. Final rule. Fed Regist. 2002 Oct 7;67(194):62354–70. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources