‘Almost any illegal drug available online’

Almost any kind of illegal drug can be bought online and delivered by mail, without the buyer having any contact with the drug dealer, according to research carried out by the EU drugs agency.

In the past 20 years, since the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction began monitoring the drug situation in Europe, the kind and variety of drugs available has changed hugely, as has the way they can be acquired.

The days of handing over tiny packets in dark doorways has changed to clicking on a website and paying often with unregulated “money” such as bitcoin.