Investigation on the Grey Sales Chain of Overwhelming Drugs on the Internet: Merchants claim to place orders online as "obedient water" and deliver goods to their doorstep to urge love | Immortals | Online

This product is also known as Guai Guai Shui, obedient amnesia Shui, and Shenxian Shui, with a scientific name of γ－ Hydroxybutyric acid, with a psychedelic and aphrodisiac effect, causes amnesia afterwards. The effect of obedient water is that it is colorless and tasteless. Taking it to a bar or KTV and secretly adding a few drops to the drink can quickly make the other person lose consciousness

Mr. Wang from Hedong District, Tianjin City has recently seen this type of "immortal water" advertisement multiple times while browsing web pages. In advertising, it is depicted as a special effect that can cause the other person to fall into a coma with just one drop, at the mercy of the applicator, and the victim is unaware of it afterwards, losing all memories of this period.

It is understood that "Shenxian Water", also known as obedient water, adulterous water, and obedient water, is a colorless and odorless liquid. In its solid state, it is a white powder and belongs to the third generation of drugs. It is a Class I and Class II controlled psychotropic drug in China.

A reporter from the Legal Daily found in an investigation that with the continuous increase in crackdown in recent years, the production and sales of "divine water" have become increasingly covert. However, the situation of selling such drugs on online platforms still exists, with slightly different specific names. Illegal merchants claim that such products have aphrodisiac effects and are colorless and tasteless. From the transaction records posted by merchants, it can be seen that there are a considerable number of buyers who, in addition to using drugs to molest and sexually assault victims, may also take videos and pictures to sell.

Manga: Li Xiaojun

There are a wide variety of drugs available for sale online

Private shipment and concealed transactions

On e-commerce platforms, reporters searched for keywords such as "immortal water", "hallucinogens", and "obedient water", but the results were not displayed. However, when the keywords were changed, such as "rejuvenation liquid", a large number of products instantly popped up. Words such as "use secretly, difficult to detect" and "use secretly, easy to melt, colorless and tasteless" appear in the product introduction picture.

In a video introducing the hazards of "water separation", it was originally a normal science popularization video, but the cover of the video was actually a website. When the reporter opened the website, the page displayed "Remind fans to listen to the mall, reputable merchants, long press the number below to copy and add customer service social accounts, and ensure safe and confidential shipping throughout the process".

After the reporter added the customer service social account, the other party first sent a document, including various types of treacherous water and obedient water. The shipping instructions on the home page showed that "when shipping, all the original packaging will be removed, and then the ordinary perfume box will be used for shipping. There will be a perfume smell on the box, and the express label: perfume. If you don't know how to use it after receiving the goods, please contact me directly, or call customer service, please know!"

Each product corresponds to a number, with a product introduction and usage below, as well as shipping precautions. Example A1: Triazolam tablets. Price: 500 yuan per bottle. Introduction: Triazolam has strong hypnotic and sedative effects, and its efficacy is fast and can cause deep sleep. Soluble in any liquid, colorless and odorless. It takes effect within 5 minutes and lasts for 4 to 6 hours. Dosage: Take 3-5 tablets in tablet form and 1 to 2ml in liquid form at once.

It is also mentioned in the precautions that triazolam is a solid tablet and can only be made into a liquid for shipment. Once made into a liquid, it will not affect the efficacy. An additional aphrodisiac powder can be added, and if acceptable, an order can be placed for a total of 19 types. There are two options available at 850 yuan, three options at 1200 yuan, four options at 1500 yuan, and five options at 1900 yuan. The merchant claims that each medication has no side effects, and the parties involved are completely unaware of what happened afterwards.

When the reporter proposed to purchase two of them, the other party stated that they need to provide a shipping address and phone number, which can be shipped nationwide and delivered to their doorstep.

"Our freight drivers privately carry and deliver goods here, and some places cannot be shipped," the other party said. The driver is responsible for delivering the goods to the nearest city or town to the buyer's receiving location. The number A2 selected by the reporter is obedient water, and the number A11 is authentic and cannot be sent by express delivery. The driver will contact the recipient in advance before the goods arrive.

Subsequently, the other party sent a QR code and requested the journalist to take a screenshot after payment. The other party used the screenshot to prepare and send the goods.

According to the official platform of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology's Science Popularization in China, in general, the two essential conditions for anesthesia to take effect are a sufficiently high concentration of anesthesia and a sufficiently long duration of anesthesia. There is no such thing as a "one smell, one pour" overpowering drug, but a "one drink, one pour" overpowering drug actually exists. Taking the new type of hallucinogenic drug GHB as an example, its main components are γ－ Hydroxybutyric acid is a potent sedative with a strong inhibitory effect on the central nervous system.

In September 2022, the Anti Drug Detachment of Xiamen Public Security Bureau received a report from the Anti Smuggling Bureau of Xiamen Customs that someone had falsely reported customs clearance through international express delivery under the name of "hair conditioner", suspected of smuggling drugs. After receiving the report, the Xiamen police immediately launched an investigation and found that the buyer, Cai Mouxian, had repeatedly used a fake address and name to purchase so-called "hair conditioners" from overseas websites, with a major suspicion of drug smuggling. On September 21 of the same year, the police arrested Cai Mouxian in Xiamen and seized two bottles of hair conditioner disguised as "conditioner" at his residence γ－ Hydroxybutyric acid component of "rape water". After investigation, the suspect Cai Mouxian bought this kind of drug for many times and sold it to others to earn a price difference, which was suspected of smuggling and trafficking drugs.

Drug related crimes form an industrial chain

The means are despicable and the harm is great

In a rape case, five men in Pu'an County, Guizhou Province mixed hallucinogenic drugs into beer in a KTV box, lured four female friends to drink it, and repeatedly sexually assaulted them while they were unconscious. Although one victim regained consciousness midway, fought back and bit one of the men, they were unable to escape due to the medicinal effects. In the end, the court sentenced Chen and five others to imprisonment ranging from four years and two months to eight years for the crime of rape.

During the trial of the case, the People's Court of Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province also held a court hearing to hear a similar case. Zhang, who had just turned 18, committed two consecutive crimes within a week, resulting in three people, including two minors, being sexually assaulted. One of them was raped after drinking alcohol mixed with hallucinogenic drugs by Zhang.

It is worth noting that in the above two cases, both the victim and the defendant were acquaintances, both based on trust and unsuspecting, induced by the defendant to drink alcohol containing hallucinogens and lose consciousness, leading to infringement.

The reporter found through reviewing relevant judgments that, unlike general sexual assault cases, in such cases of rape, the victims are mostly unconscious or lack resistance when they are violated due to the effect of drugs. Moreover, many people have experienced symptoms such as unconsciousness or vomiting after being sexually assaulted, and have been sent to the hospital for rescue and treatment. The judgment believes that the use of hallucinogens goes against women's will, forcibly engaging in sexual relations with the victim, and infringing on sexual autonomy is "despicable in means and highly harmful to society.".

It is understood that these drugs have side effects on the human body, especially those containing methamphetamine, which can be life-threatening if taken in excess. If the victim can detect in a timely manner that they have been deceived into taking hallucinogenic drugs when they are violated, they can use emetic therapy to self rescue in the early stage. However, once the hallucinogenic drugs are absorbed by the human body, there is almost no possibility of self rescue, and most criminals do not understand pharmacology. In order to successfully carry out the crime, they usually increase the dosage, which may cause serious consequences.

During the investigation, the reporter found that the "effect feedback chart" was also displayed along with these drugs. The merchant stated that "with the customer's consent to upload, the video images are absolutely authentic and cannot be found on the entire network.". Not only that, there are also people who specialize in collecting or uploading rape videos for others to watch, as well as packaging and selling picture packages, videos, etc.

In response to the prominent problem of the abuse of anesthetic and psychotropic drugs, especially illegal crimes such as "drugging", the relevant person in charge of the Supreme People's Procuratorate stated that those who sell anesthetic and psychotropic drugs to drug trafficking and drug users should be prosecuted according to the crime of drug trafficking. For the sale of anesthesia and psychotropic drugs for non medical, teaching, scientific research and other legitimate purposes, as well as for the purpose of indulgence and illegal trafficking to unspecified individuals, criminal responsibility shall be pursued according to the crime of drug trafficking. If there is evidence to prove that the perpetrator committed crimes such as rape and robbery and drugged the victim, it should be treated as a serious crime such as rape and robbery.

"Especially considering the specific circumstances of the criminal behavior, such as time and space, for those who use anesthesia or psychotropic drugs for the purpose of sexual intercourse and meet the requirements of serious crimes such as rape, they shall be prosecuted for crimes such as rape, and cannot be downgraded to the crime of deceiving others to use drugs," said the person in charge.

In addition, some public reports indicate that some people did not ship the goods after making payment, or that the drugs they sent after payment were not the ones advertised.

According to Professor Chu Chenge, Executive Dean of the Fengqiao Experience and Social Governance Research Institute at Northwest University of Political Science and Law, selling so-called "rape water" online without authorization may constitute the crime of drug trafficking. However, selling fake "immortal water" for the purpose of illegal possession to defraud others of a large amount of property may constitute the crime of fraud.

The platform fulfills its main responsibility

Strengthen information analysis and disposal

Why can third-generation drugs like hallucinogens be easily purchased online?

A journalist investigation found that in the face of platform regulation, many unscrupulous merchants choose to use synonym substitution to evade regulation. The nickname "Shenxianshui" is constantly emerging, and online platforms are unable to effectively regulate phenomena such as synonym substitution and fuzzy search.

Tang Jianbin, senior partner of Beijing Kyoto Law Firm and member of the China Association for Drug Abuse Prevention and Control, told reporters that although there are many names for "Shenxian Shui", its core ingredient is still GHB, and the effect of taking substances containing this ingredient is its selling point. When regulating the platform, attention should be paid to whether there are production labels and licenses. Be vigilant about using words such as "magical effects" or "relaxing and soothing" in terms of promotional effectiveness, and promptly contact merchants for verification.

"Starting from cases that have already been investigated and dealt with, information can be dynamically exchanged between online platforms and public security departments. Public security organs should promptly synchronize new names discovered in cases with online platforms, strengthen prompts and supervision. Online platforms can set up keyword reminder mechanisms to restrict the dissemination of similar names, and limit access rules. The identity information of publishers should be strictly reviewed, platform transaction information should be reviewed, and illegal information dissemination should be eliminated." Tang Jianbin said.

In the opinion of Li Wenjun, director of the Research Center for Drug Control Theory and Policy of the People's Public Security University of China, in view of this problem, in addition to the division of work and cooperation of the government's drug control functional departments to do a good job in Internet drug control, the Internet and delivery enterprises should also earnestly perform their own industrial responsibility.

"Relevant Internet enterprises should strengthen the inspection of public information on websites and instant chat groups, self check and self correct, and take the initiative to clean up drug-related harmful information. Strictly implement measures such as information release review, user log records, and information content retention. Once it is found that the information released and transmitted through its services belongs to drug-related illegal information, it should be deleted immediately, keep relevant records, and report to the public security organ." Li Wenjun said.

Cui Shixiu, a guiding teacher of the Anti Drug Volunteer Association at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, believes that online platforms can use technical means to regulate synonym substitution and fuzzy search phenomena. For example, analyzing advertising content through keyword filtering and machine learning techniques, using algorithms to determine whether there is synonym replacement and fuzzy search, and promptly deleting them. At the same time, a user reporting mechanism can also be established to promptly handle violations. In addition, with the development of Internet technology, for synonym replacement and fuzzy search, the network platform should give play to its own data advantages, provide drug related clues to the public security department in time, and strengthen the cooperation between the police and enterprises.

In the view of Zhang Li, Director of the Anti Drug Teaching and Research Office of the Investigation College of People's Public Security University of China, online shopping platforms only provide a trading location. The images and texts appearing on the platform may have multiple interpretations. If the operators and regulators of online shopping platforms were to identify these potentially drug-related products, it would be equivalent to asking them to identify counterfeit and inferior products on the platform, which is extremely difficult and not achievable by the current technology of online shopping platforms. But online shopping platforms can require merchants to indicate that the products they sell do not contain any prohibited ingredients. The platform can also set reminder information in the login interface, payment prompts, and other links, requiring buyers to verify that the purchased products do not belong to prohibited items.

The reporter also found that covert communication and social platform transactions have become a tacit understanding between buyers and sellers, making regulation more difficult. So, can social platforms adopt the same keyword reminder mechanism as online shopping platforms?

Tang Jianbin believes that when buying and selling goods through social media platforms, sensitive words such as product efficacy, industry slang during the buying and selling process, or the handover of goods must accompany them. The publisher and manager of social apps should supervise and control drug-related behavior through technical means, and conduct information retrieval and collection. They should cooperate with public security organs to jointly investigate and control "social platforms, electronic payments, and logistics", and cooperate with evidence collection, fixed clues, and witnesses for subsequent tracking and investigation. At the same time, the same keyword reminder mechanism as online shopping platforms can be adopted to identify suspicious and similar illegal transaction dialogue content and pop up windows, enhancing the alertness of buyers.

Chu Chenge believes that social media platforms should not only adopt keyword reminder mechanisms for transactions between buyers and sellers, but also pay attention to the supervision of the two elements of "people" and "things". The supervision of individuals should implement a real name registration system for social platform users, and strengthen the qualification review and management of salespeople; The supervision of goods should increase the inspection of products on shelves, such as using "double random" methods for inspection. If there are any illegal products, they should be removed from the shelves.

In Cui Shixiu's view, the traditional "heavy punishment drug control" strategy faces many obstacles in punishing online drug crimes. The main reason is that online drug crimes may be linked to behaviors such as online theft and fraud. Therefore, when cracking down on drug transactions on social platforms, it is necessary to carefully judge the relationship between each behavior. As a network service provider, social platforms have the ability and obligation to ensure that the network services they provide are not used for drug trading and related activities. In addition, social platforms need to establish daily regulatory mechanisms and upgrade algorithms through information network technology to enhance the platform's risk identification ability and avoid reserving space for online drug crimes due to the pursuit of economic benefits.

Author | Rule of Law Daily All-Media Reporter Han Dandong Zhang Shoukun Intern Wang Yitian

Source | Legal Daily