ITV
No longer exclusively found in dark, dingy alleyways, drug deals are now happening openly online and are seemingly as easy as getting your shopping delivered.
Advertising in plain sight and delivering to your door, it is hard to distinguish certain illegal drug websites from any other selling goods and services.
Well made, painted in flashy colours and offering bespoke customer services such as discount codes, and the ability to track and review your orders – drug dealing has stepped into the digital age.
A Google search for cannabis to your door turns up over millions of results, some of which are brazenly selling illegal products.
But how are they able to sell their drugs so openly?
One of the illegal cannabis delivery start-ups ITV News came across advertised it uses Royal Mail couriers to provide a door-to-door service.
Stickers for the now defunct Kanas.shop could be found plastered on tube lines across London, openly selling illegal products. By shunning the approach of advertising on the dark web, the site was easily found using popular search engines.
A statement written on the shipping section of the site reads: “We use Royal Mail to fulfil our deliveries.
“You will not be required to give a signature or ID when your package is delivered. If payment of your order is confirmed before 15:00 it will be dispatched on the same day.
“Any confirmed orders received after 15:00 will be dispatched on the next business day. We don’t deliver on weekends or Public/Bank holidays.”
When approached by ITV News, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We often work closely with police forces and encourage our postmen and women to report any suspicious items to management, which will then be referred to the authorities.”
The UK has strict laws on those who produce and supply cannabis, with jail sentences of up to 14 years or an unlimited fine, or both.
Possession of the drug can get you up to five years in prison.
After interacting with the team at Kanas.shop over email, they confirmed their products contained the banned substance THC.
Cannabis produces hundreds of cannabinoid compounds. The main two however are CBD and THC.
Regulated products in the UK, such as oils and energy drinks are sold in the UK containing CBD, which does not produce a ‘high’.
However, THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis plants, is illegal in the UK if it is above 0.2% in a product.
Rendering almost all cannabis containing it illegal.
Some of the products on the Kanas.shop website proport to have a THC potency of 32%, with the site warning that they are for “treating experienced patients suffering from chronic stress or anxiety, chronic pain, depression, muscle spasms or cramps and insomnia.
Most medicinal cannabis strains contain around 12-19% THC, but experts suggest anything that tests above 15% should be classified as high levels of THC.
