"Fair trade" cocaine and social responsibility

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online anonymity means there is less risk of arrest by undercover police and reduced threats of violence at the hands of rival drug dealers.

These developments have led law enforcement officials to wonder, How do drug dealers increase their market share when beating your competitor to death is no longer a viable option?

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Even more intriguing is the use of marketing strategies that mimic corporate social responsibility initiatives. These may take the form of financial sponsorship of organizations likely to be viewed favorably by online drug consumers. For example, one Australian drug vendor recently advertised their enterprise as a: "Proud financial supporter of WikiLeaks and Bluelight."

At the more extreme end of socially progressive marketing strategies used by online dealers are those that involve the promotion of drugs on the basis of supposedly "ethical", "fair trade", "organic" or "conflict-free" sources of supply:

"We are a team of libertarian cocaine dealers. We never buy coke from cartels! We never buy coke from police! We help farmers from Peru, Bolivia and some chemistry students in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. We do fair trade!"

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