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In 2017, San Francisco (SF) implemented Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), a program Beckett described as harm reduction policing. Through a process and outcome evaluation of LEAD SF, this paper demonstrates the positive impacts of harm reduction policing, on those who use drugs and/or engage in sex work. When law enforcement officers used their discretion to divert individuals into LEAD rather than arrest, those individuals had significantly fewer felony and misdemeanor arrests and felony cases, in comparison to a propensity score matched group. The focus group and interview data describe that the collaboration, the warm handoff, and LEAD's harm reduction principles were mechanisms of success. However, obtaining officer buy-in was a key challenge. Despite that obstacle, LEAD SF's harm reduction policing reduces offending, improves the wellbeing of people who use drugs and engage in sex work, and allows the police to carry out their mandate to protect and serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, tobacco is responsible for the death of approximately 6 million individuals per year. In reaction, governments have enacted tobacco control policies that cope with the harmful effects of the drug. However, these policies have also created geographic price disparities and increased the effort needed to purchase legal tobacco products. The result was the creation of a new illicit tobacco market. While tobacco smuggling continues through conventional avenues, a new generation of traffickers have turned to a different source for the illicit distribution of tobacco -- the internet, specifically the darkweb. The purpose of this paper is to describe the size and scope of illicit trafficking of tobacco on cryptomarkets, and the diverse types of tobacco-related products available on the cryptomarkets. Our analysis will provide guidance for policymakers, researchers, and all interested in the illicit trade of tobacco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that research on police body-worn cameras (BWCs) has dramatically increased in the last 5 years and notes increased funding for research, role played by politics and money, and skepticism surrounding technology.

This introduction to the JCCJ special issue on illicit networks seeks to accomplish three objectives. First, we offer a brief explanation of the network paradigm and its importance to criminology; our purpose is to convince readers of the utility of social network analysis (SNA). Second, we summarize the benefits of working groups with the aim of providing readers with the context from which they can understand why these informal collectives are critical to the advancement of science. And finally, the remainder of the article introduces the research assembled for this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background American authorities have invested extraordinary resources to keep up with the growth in cannabis cultivation, and state-level cannabis laws have been changing rapidly. Despite these changes, little research on the relationship between criminal justice sanctions and grower behaviours exist, in particular research that examines restrictive deterrence – the altering of an illegal behaviour as opposed to desisting from it completely. Methods We examine restrictive deterrence in the context of cannabis cultivation by modelling the relationship between the threat of sanctions and the size of cultivation site and number of co-offenders. We use data from an anonymous web survey where participants were recruited through advertisements on websites related to cannabis use and cultivation. Negative binomial regression were used on 337 cases that contain valid data on size of cultivation site and 338 cases that contain valid data on the number of co-offenders. Results Our study found some evidence that the severity of state sanctions reduces the size of cultivation sites among growers who reside in the state. However, the number of contacts with the police had the opposite effect. In addition, we did not find a restrictive deterrent effect for the number of co-offenders, suggesting that different factors affect different decision points. Interestingly, objective skill and subjective skill had positive and independent effects on size of site. Conclusions Results suggest that state-level sanctions have a structuring effect by restricting the size of cultivation sites but further increases in sanctions or enforcement are unlikely to deter more individuals from growing cannabis. In fact, there may be some potential dangers of increased enforcement on cannabis growers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facilities that draw youth from different communities are prone to become offender convergence settings and intercity crime generators. Applying network analysis to self-nominated hangouts of 5,082 delinquent youth residing in Southern California revealed specific facilities acting as regional convergence settings. A small number of magnetic locations (measured by popularity and breadth of appeal) enable the congregation and interaction of youth that would otherwise not be exposed to each other. As predicted, the sociocirculatory structure of place networks remains relatively constant over time. In-degree and betweenness centrality statistics offer a viable analytic strategy to identify facilities operating as stable regional convergence locations. Crime prevention programs invoking effective place management through ordinances may offer a way to publicly govern these private facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the significant amount of attention and resources invested into the global anti-money laundering (AML) regime, there is a dearth of empirical studies on the role of money-launderers in illicit markets. This research tests two primary justifications of AML policy: 1) most money-launderers would not be detected through criminal investigations of predicate crimes and organized crime groups; and, 2) professional money-launderers play an important role in illicit markets and criminal networks. We extracted information about money-launderers in the drug market from police intelligence reports over a three-year period. Social network analysis was used to assess the positional importance of the launderers. The results show that most individuals are self-laundering, and relative to other market roles, launderers are not particularly central players. Policy implications for AML enforcement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational illicit markets are deeply embedded within legal trade systems and thus should be affected by shifting market conditions. Applying a stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM), this study tests whether variation in illicit market opportunity could account for changing relations within the small arms trade (2003–2008). Measures of market accessibility – changes in export activity, reporting transparency and the percent of the labour force that is armed – outperformed measures of weapon availability with the exception of involvement in armed conflict. Significant structural change in outdegree density and transitivity suggest the development of trade factions, and decreasing balance hints that leaders are emerging. With the pending de-escalation of US-led conflict in the Middle East, a flood of second-hand weaponry is about to enter the market. Continued research is required to further uncover how the legitimate trade infrastructure facilitates the illicit flow of goods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Uncovering the resiliency of ties between individuals involved in criminal enterprise will contribute to our understanding of how illicit markets function. To examine activities along the entire drug market commodity chain, this study extracted information about individuals involved or associated with trafficking (1,998 people) from police intelligence reports generated from 2004 to 2006. Significant differences were found for centrality and cohesion across market niches. Results show that the highest fragmentation potential lies with individuals who are involved with smuggling, supply, and financing, particularly when these individuals are also involved in other niches. Variability in small-world and scale-free properties suggest that interdiction strategies must be tailored to niche characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rather than examining networks of individuals as prior research has done, this study systematically examines the structure and composition of co-offending among types of criminal enterprise groups. Using social network analysis, the authors show that different types of crime groups tend to have unique co-offending patterns as measured by network composition and structure. The results also support the countercurrent of criminologists who suggest that ethnically derived categories may be misleading when trying to classify criminal enterprise groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a period of 4 years (1997–2000), British Columbia (BC) experienced tremendous growth in the illicit production and distribution of domestically grown marijuana. By the close of 2000, each policing jurisdiction in BC had adopted a particular policy in response to grow operation proliferation. In summary, four policy responses were noted. First, some maintained the status quo wherein enforcement of police initiated investigations and citizens’ tips continued, but with no additional resources specifically dedicated to grow operations. Second, some jurisdictions suspended the majority of investigation and enforcement of grow operations. Third, some agencies implemented or reinforced existing resource intensive drug squads, which focused on trafficking, sales and production of all types of drugs. Finally, some of the jurisdictions formed specialized tactical units known as “green teams” that focused solely on the enforcement of marijuana production. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of green teams using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and difference-in-difference estimates. The results indicate that green teams decrease grow operations within their target area without significant displacement to surrounding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, San Francisco (SF) implemented the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, a harm reduction–based pre-booking diversion system for people who violate drug laws and/or are engaged in sex work. LEAD is set apart from existing diversion programs, as it uses police as point of entry. Prior LEAD studies indicate some success in reducing recidivism and improving life outcomes. However, less is known about program implementation, including barriers and facilitators. Relying on policy documents, interviews, and focus groups, this study describes the LEAD SF's development, operations, adaptations, and challenges. It also identifies the unique context of LEAD SF that led to implementation barriers and facilitators. Results show that SF experienced success in collaboration, relationship building, and client connections to services but experienced challenges in securing and maintaining police officer buy-in and keeping clear and open lines of communication regarding LEAD goals, objectives, policies, and procedures. This led to the termination of LEAD SF in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common practice in survey questionnaires to include a general open and non-directive feedback question at the end, but the analysis of this type of data is rarely discussed in the methodological literature. While these open-ended comments can be useful, most researchers fail to report on this issue. The aim of this article is to illustrate and reflect upon the benefits and challenges of analyzing responses to open-ended feedback questions. The article describes the experiences of coding and analyzing data generated through a feedback question at the end of an international online survey with small-scale cannabis cultivators carried out by the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium. After describing the design and dataset of the web survey, the analytical approach and coding frame are presented. The analytical strategies chosen in this study illustrate the diversity and complexity of feedback comments which pose methodological challenges to researchers wishing to use them for data analyses. In this article, three types of feedback comments (political/policy comments, general comments of positive and negative appreciation, and methodological comments) are used to illustrate the difficulties and advantages of analyzing this type of data. The advantages of analyzing feedback comments are well known, but they seem to be rarely exploited. General feedback questions at the end of surveys are typically non-directive. If researchers want to use these data for research and analyses, they need a clear strategy. They ought to give enough thought to why they are including this type of question, and develop an analytical strategy at the design stage of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug and alcohol offences represent a significant portion of police work. Officers commonly rely on subjective indicators of intoxication, and prosecutors depend on officer evidence collection, written reports, and testimony at trial. Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have diffused widely in policing partly due to their perceived evidentiary value, but the extent to which BWCs affect the adjudication of such offences remains unanswered. The current study explores this question with 7,000 misdemeanour cases from Tempe (Arizona), filed from 2014 to 2017. The Tempe Police Department deployed BWCs from November 2015 to May 2016. Results indicate that BWCs had no impact on guilty outcomes, but cameras were associated with significantly shorter time to adjudication. We discuss the important policy implications of these thought-provoking findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on police body-worn cameras (BWCs) has rapidly expanded to evaluate the technology's impact on a range of police outcomes. Far fewer studies have addressed the various effects on downstream criminal justice actors, and those that do have focused almost entirely on prosecutors. Thus, public defenders have remained on the periphery of the police BWC discussion, despite playing an important role as an end-user of the technology. This study draws on qualitative data from focus groups with public defenders in the Commonwealth of Virginia to discuss the perception of BWCs as neutral observers in a police–citizen encounter. We then provide implications and recommend avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 5% of a global sample reported adverse drug events in the last 12 months. • Recent cryptomarket use was associated with adverse events for cocaine and LSD. • Recent cryptomarket use was associated with a drug-using network size of zero. • Those with networks >1, characteristics did not differ by recent cryptomarket use. Drug use and trading are typically social activities; however, supply through cryptomarkets can occur without any in-person social contact. People who use drugs alone may be at higher risk of experiencing harms, for example, due to lack of others who may call for emergency assistance. Alternatively, cryptomarkets may be a source of harm reduction information and drugs with better-known content and dose, potentially reducing the risk of adverse events. This study examines relationships between cryptomarket use, drug-using social networks and adverse drug events for MDMA, cocaine and LSD. A subsample of 23,053 respondents from over 70 countries was collected in the 2018 Global Drug Survey. People who reported using MDMA, cocaine or LSD were asked about using cryptomarkets to purchase these drugs; any adverse drug events requiring medical treatment (combining seeking treatment and should have sought treatment but did not); and social networks who they had used the specific drug with. All measures referred to the last 12 months, hereon referred to as 'recent'. Binary logistic regressions examined relationships between cryptomarket use, drug-using social networks, and adverse drug events, controlling for age, gender, and frequency of drug use. Adverse events from any drug type were low (5.2%) and for each drug; MDMA (3.5%); cocaine (3.3%); and LSD (3.5%). After controlling for covariates, recent cryptomarket use was associated with increased likelihood of having no drug-using network for each drug type. People who recently used cryptomarkets were more likely to report adverse cocaine (AOR = 1.70 (1.22-2.37)) and LSD (AOR = 1.58 (1.12-2.09)) events. For those reporting a network size >1, network characteristics did not differ with recent cryptomarket use; however, those reporting recent cryptomarket use were more likely to report adverse LSD events (AOR = 1.86 (0.99-3.51)). People who reported purchasing drugs from cryptomarkets more commonly reported having no drug-using network, and cryptomarket purchase was associated with reported adverse events. Our results support the notion that cryptomarket use increases drug-related harm, but further disentanglement of multiple complex mechanisms is needed in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research summary: Crackdowns are law enforcement strategies based on the principles of deterrence theory, which stipulates that offenders are rational actors who will refrain from crime if perceived risks are higher than perceived benefits. Studies have shown that the effects of police street drug crackdowns are mostly short termed and followed by considerable displacement. In the early 2010s, an important part of illicit drug trades moved online to cryptomarkets, and law enforcement agencies have responded by engaging in online drug crackdowns. In this study, we focus on the perceptions of dark web users in order to determine, from a qualitative "data‐driven" perspective, whether police online crackdowns may have a cyber‐deterrent effect by analyzing 1796 forum posts. Our results show that these events trigger psychological and practical consequences that participants claim to have a conditional, although minor, deterrent effect. In the majority of cases, dark web users claimed to engage in several forms of spatial and tactical displacement. Policy implications: Our study suggests that police crackdowns on the dark web have limited, short‐term effectiveness in curbing illicit activities. It proposes that innovative policing approaches such as problem‐oriented policing and "pulling levers/focused deterrence" strategies, which involve identifying key actors and engaging with them, be potentially extended to the dark web. While this approach is promising, it emphasizes the need for further research to assess its efficacy in the online realm, as it is a largely uncharted territory for law enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The project aims to: (1) investigate structural and functional changes in an Australian drug trafficking network across time to determine ways in which such networks form and evolve. To meet this aim, the project will answer the following research questions: (1) What social structural changes occur in drug trafficking networks across time? (2) How are these structural changes related to roles/tasks performed by network members? (3) What social processes can account for change over time in drug trafficking networks? Method: The relational data on the network was divided into four two years periods. Actors were allocated to specific roles. We applied a stochastic actor-oriented model to explain the dynamics of the network across time. Using RSiena, we estimated a number of models with the key objectives of investigating: (1) the effect of roles only; (2) the endogenous effect of degree-based popularity (Matthew effect); (3) the endogenous effect of balancing connectivity with exposure (preference for indirect rather than direct connections); (4) how degree-based popularity is moderated by tendencies towards reach and exposure. Results: Preferential attachment is completely moderated by a preference for having indirect ties, meaning that centralization is a result of actors preferring indirect connections to many others and not because of a preference for connecting to popular actors. Locally, actors seek cohesive relationships through triadic closure. Conclusions: Actors do not seek to create an efficient network that is highly centralized at the expense of security. Rather, actors strive to optimize security through triadic closure, building trust, and protecting themselves and actors in close proximity through the use of brokers that offer access to the rest of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ponzi schemes are a type of social network where investors are recruited by a variety of social actors. This study uses network analysis to investigate whether the type of social tie that influenced victims of the Eron Ponzi scheme to invest is associated with the different harms victims experienced from their involvement in the fraud. The results reveal that trust in social ties is associated with increases in many of the types of harm reported by victims. The findings also reveal that victims who were influenced to invest by multiple types of social ties generally reported lower levels of harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study looks at whether social opportunity structures are associated with transitions into more serious drug market offending. Our focus is on the speed at which transitions occurred, and whether variations in criminal embeddedness play a role in explaining this. Methods: A survey of 520 North American cannabis cultivators allowed us to assess one dimension of the criminal career—escalation—looking at the speed of transitions from cannabis user to grower. Our main predictor, criminal embeddedness, was measured through the presence of a cultivation mentor involved in cannabis cultivation. Results: Cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated late cannabis use onset and an indicator of the number of drugs used beyond cannabis were found to accelerate transitions. In addition, within-person changes in mentorship were found to influence the timing of escalation, with meeting a mentor associated with quicker transitions into cannabis cultivation. Conclusions: Findings emphasize the role of mentors as gateways into new milieus. Results support increased attention to the immediate social networks and broader social opportunity structures in which offenders and would-be offenders are embedded as major factors driving the timing of onset into more serious criminal pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To investigate what transpires at opioid overdoses where police administer naloxone and to identify the frequency with which concerns about police-administered naloxone are observed. Methods. We reviewed body-worn camera (BWC) footage of all incidents where a Tempe, Arizona police officer administered naloxone or was present when the Tempe Fire Medical Rescue (TFMR) administered it, from February 3, 2020 to May 7, 2021 (n = 168). We devised a detailed coding instrument and employed univariate and bivariate analysis to examine the frequency of concerns regarding police-administered naloxone. Results. Police arrived on scene before the TFMR in 73.7% of cases. In 88.6% of calls the individual was unconscious when police arrived, but 94.6% survived the overdose. The primary concerns about police-administered naloxone were rarely observed. There were no cases of improper naloxone administration or accidental opioid exposure to an officer. Aggression toward police from an overdose survivor rarely occurred (3.6%), and arrests of survivors (3.6%) and others on scene (1.2%) were infrequent. Conclusions. BWC footage provides a unique window into opioid overdoses. In Tempe, the concerns over police-administered naloxone are overstated. If results are similar elsewhere, those concerns are barriers that must be removed. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(9):1326–1332. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306918) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illicit markets capitalize on the vulnerabilities of trade systems. When these weaknesses involve mechanisms common to several aspects of transnational commerce, the effect of illicit behavior, and conversely of anti-crime policy, can be magnified. This study introduces a script-network method to estimate the impact of targeting illicit behavior within the context of an entire market system. Using the high-value art and antiquities market as a case study, we anticipate the effects of two anti-crime policy directives--movement control and monitoring financial transactions. In addition to advancing a new method, two original metrics are presented--one measures the complexity of sectors in a trade system (complexity) and the other anticipates the incentive to work around crime control efforts (transformity). In consideration of these system characteristics, our results suggest that maximum decoupling of illicit\legal trade is more likely with the introduction of safeguards targeting central trade functions that are associated with valuing and gifting objects. Network-oriented research could help the prevailing market reduction approach (MRA) to be more effective in reducing transnational illicit trade because network analytics are specially crafted for dealing with the statistical challenges that are inherent to studying transnational illicit market systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This article aims to provide an overview of: demographic characteristics; experiences with growing cannabis; methods and scale of growing operations; reasons for growing; personal use of cannabis and other drugs; participation in cannabis and other drug markets; contacts with the criminal justice system for respondents to an online survey about cannabis cultivation drawn from eleven countries ( N = 6530). Important similarities and differences between the national samples recruited will be discussed. Methods This paper utilizes data from the online web survey of predominantly ‘small-scale’ cannabis cultivators in eleven countries conducted by the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium (GCCRC). Here we focus primarily on descriptive statistics to highlight key similarities and differences across the different national samples. Results Overall there was a great deal of similarity across countries in terms of: demographic characteristics; experiences with growing cannabis; methods and scale of growing operations; reasons for growing; use of cannabis and other drugs; participation in cannabis and other drug markets, and; contacts with the criminal justice system. In particular, we can recognise that a clear majority of those small-scale cannabis cultivators who responded to our survey are primarily motivated for reasons other than making money from cannabis supply and have minimal involvement in drug dealing or other criminal activities. Conclusions These growers generally come from ‘normal’ rather than ‘deviant’ backgrounds. Some differences do exist between the samples drawn from different countries suggesting that local factors (political, geographical, cultural, etc.) may have some influence on how small-scale cultivators operate, although differences in recruitment strategies in different countries may also account for some differences observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialization in criminal activities generally refers to offenders that repeat the same or similar offenses over time. While some research has found support for offender specialization, most empirical studies suggest that most offenders engage in various forms of offenses during their criminal trajectory and fail to specialize in a specific offense. The aim of this paper is to build on past research to understand the specialization of offenders involved in the online illicit trade of tobacco. To do so, we characterize the offenders involved in the online illicit trade of tobacco, the products (other than tobacco) that these vendors traffic as well as the differences between the offenders involved in the online illicit trade of tobacco and those involved only in other types of illicit trades. We find that a small share of vendors on cryptomarkets are involved in the illicit trade of tobacco. These vendors trade cigarettes, cigars and rolling tobacco generating monthly revenues of $8952 from the sales of these items. These revenues pale in comparison to these vendors' revenues from non-tobacco product listings ($22,177) and the monthly revenues generated by other cryptomarkets vendors (over $37 million US dollars). This paper confirms the diversification of offenders involved in online illicit markets and extends past research by quantifying the degree to which these offenders are diversified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If as suspected, criminal enterprise feeds off legal trade, then anti-crime policy must target the points at which legal and illicit markets intersect. This study offers a strategy to pinpoint and calibrate the degree of fusion across an entire trade system. Legal and illicit processes and mechanisms essential to all sectors of an industry – development, financing, handling, possession and regulation – were dissected using a script methodology. Eigenvector centrality scores identified interlocking tools and actors. The results highlight the role played by supporting industries (e.g. insurers, auction houses, storage specialists, foundations and high net-worth buyers) and the need to target temporary markets, shipping activity and financial transactions with regulatory policing efforts. Vaccinating global economies from illicit activity is best achieved through a soft law approach aimed at identifiable mechanisms (faulty props) used by groups playing pivotal trade roles (bad actors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opioid use has emerged as a significant public health crisis in cities across the United States. In Arizona, opioid overdose deaths increased by 65% from 2016 to 2018, leading the Governor of Arizona to declare a State of Emergency. Because police are often the first to arrive at the scene of an overdose, officers are central to an effective response to the opioid crisis in Arizona and elsewhere. However, many police officers do not carry naloxone, which can immediately reverse the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose. Few studies examine officer perceptions of opioid use or their willingness to carry and administer naloxone. The degree to which officers accept this public health responsibility remains unclear. The authors administered two waves of a survey to patrol officers in the Tempe (AZ) Police Department. The officers completed wave 1 approximately three months before the start of a program that trained and outfitted patrol officers with naloxone. Officers completed wave 2 of the survey several months after the program started. Relying on the Opioid Overdose Knowledge (OOKS), Competence, Concerns, and Attitudes (OOAS) of People who Overdose, and Naloxone-Related Risk Compensation Beliefs (NaRRC-B) scales, the survey captures officer attitudes regarding opioid use, willingness to carry and administer naloxone, and perceptions of their role in responding to the opioid crisis. At wave 1, officers conveyed moderate levels of confidence in recognizing an overdose and providing life-saving care. Officers indicated strong support for carrying naloxone and responding to opioid overdoses, and they recognized the value of treatment for users. At wave 2, officers reported significantly greater confidence and competence in responding to overdoses, and their support for carrying naloxone also increased. Both before and after program start, there was little variation in attitudes across gender, race/ethnicity, education, and length of service. Officers accept this public health responsibility as part of their mission. Given that officers are frequently first on scene at overdoses and a matter of seconds can determine life or death, police-led naloxone programs will save lives in Tempe and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Internet-mediated research methods are increasingly used to access hidden populations. The International Cannabis Cultivation Questionnaire (ICCQ) is an online survey designed to facilitate international comparisons into the relatively under-researched but increasingly significant phenomenon of domestic cannabis cultivation. The Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium has used the ICCQ to survey over 6000 cannabis cultivators across 11 countries. In this paper, we describe and reflect upon our methodological approach, focusing on the digital and traditional recruitment methods used to access this hidden population and the challenges of working across multiple countries, cultures and languages. Methods Descriptive statistics showing eligibility and completion rates and recruitment source by country of residence. Results Over three quarters of eligible respondents who were presented with the survey were included in the final sample of n = 6528. English-speaking countries expended more effort to recruit participants than non-English-speaking countries. The most effective recruitment modes were cannabis websites/groups (33%), Facebook (14%) and news articles (11%). While respondents recruited through news articles were older, growing practice variables were strikingly similar between these main recruitment modes. Conclusion Through this process, we learnt that there are trade-offs between hosting multiple surveys in each country vs. using one integrated database. We also found that although perceived anonymity is routinely assumed to be a benefit of using digital research methodologies, there are significant limits to research participant anonymity in the current era of mass digital surveillance, especially when the target group is particularly concerned about evading law enforcement. Finally, we list a number of specific recommendations for future researchers utilising Internet-mediated approaches to researching hidden populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]