Lawmakers seek probe of online drug trade

MANILA, Philippines - Two Mindanao congressmen have asked the House committee on dangerous drugs to look into the reported sale of illegal drugs in the country through the Internet.

In a resolution, Reps. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and his brother Maximo, who represents party-list group Abante Mindanao, said the committee should invite the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, National Bureau of Investigation and other concerned agencies to shed light on the report.

They cited information from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that the Internet has become “a marketplace for buyers and sellers of illegal drugs, with the identities of website owners and users hidden by sophisticated concealment methods, making it difficult for law enforcement authorities to go after them.”

The 2014 UN World Drug Report “provides an overview of the major developments in drug markets, from production to trafficking, including development of new routes and modalities, as well as consumption,” the lawmakers said.

They quoted the report as warning authorities worldwide that the use of the Internet for the illegal drug trade “has been growing.”

The authors said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation recently dismantled one website, known as Silk Road, but not after it had operated for up to five years and earned an estimated $1.2 billion.

They said though Silk Road has been closed down, “new figures suggest the illegal drug trade has actually increased since then, and studies in Britain showed that one in four British drug users has accessed hidden websites.”

“Research conducted by Internet safety organization Digital Citizens Alliance shows that in October 2013, there were 18,174 drug listings across four main markets, but in 2014, BBC News revealed that there are now 43,175 listings across 23 markets,” they said.

The lawmakers stressed that there is a need for the House committee on dangerous drugs to inquire into the reported flourishing illegal drug trade being conducted through websites and to recommend measures on how it could be stopped.

The Rodriguez brothers pointed out that the sale of illegal drugs through the Internet is a new dimension of the trade and the drug menace that could be far more serious than street selling.

They said more young Filipinos have access to the Internet through their mobile phones and other devices, while more Filipino homes have Internet connections.

“Let us not expose our people, especially the young, to this new menace,” they said.