Before it was shut down earlier this year, the popular black market for drugs, Silk Road, was responsible for an estimated 18% of all drug purchases in the U.S. The website ran for three years via the Tor network before it was shutdown by the FBI and its founder, known as Dread Pirate Roberts, was arrested and charged with, among other things, attempting to contract a murderer to kill a former Silk Road employee.
About 18 percent of drug users in America used product purchased from Silk Road before it was shut down, according to a study set to be published in the journal Addiction and highlighted by DailyDot. The overwhelming majority of users in the US, UK, and Australia went on Silk Road to buy MDMA, more so than marijuana.