WEBSITE OFFERS ILLEGAL DRUGS

You want to buy some pot online? How about some cocaine?

Sound crazy?

It is, but it's also apparently become a reality.

The website Silk Road offers just that.

The site, which is hidden and only available through a program that
promises anonymity, actually lets drug users peruse different drugs,
including marijuana, acid and cocaine. They can then order it and have
it delivered to their home.

"It's like eBay for drug users," said Cliff, an Eastpointe resident
who admits to being a recreational marijuana user. "I think it sounds
cool, but I'd be terrified to use it."

Silk Road is actually akin to an Internet black market. Users can
create an account -- after jumping through anonymity technology hoops.

It also utilizes a feedback system much like that on eBay, where
buyers can rate sellers for the quality of the product and the
quickness of delivery.

The majority of sellers -- which hover in the hundreds -- are located in
the United States and Canada.

To get to Silk Road, you have to go to ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/index.php
. Before you can even take that step, however, you have to visit the
TOR website at www.torproject.org .

Computer novices probably won't have an easy time going through the
anonymity procedures.

"I think it sounds like some police scam," said Eduardo, a resident of
Detroit who smokes medical marijuana. "I would be scared to death to
go on there in case it was just some entrapment thing.

"With my luck, it would lead the cops right to my door," he
said.

Another problem that might arise from the website is the potential for
scam artists.

"That's what I would worry about, too," Eduardo admits. "It's not like
you can go to the cops and say this website ripped you off when you
were trying to buy coke on it."

However, the ratings system does seem to indicate there are trusted
traders on the site who have come through with genuine product.

While emails to the website administrator went unanswered, in an
article published by Gawker.com, administrators said that users were
"generally bright, honest and fair people, very understanding and
willing to cooperate with each other."

The website also espouses a more libertarian political view, urging
visitors to essentially rebel against the government and their policies.

Sellers on the site are promised anonymity thanks to TOR -- which masks
a user's tracks.

What about tracking money from a credit card or PayPal? Not an
option.

The currency used on Silk Road is Bitcoins, or "crypto-currency."

Bitcoins are hard to use and are essentially set up and regulated by a
network of computers.

"That all sounds really complicated," said Mike, a resident of Hazel
Park who says he "dabbles" in a few drugs on a recreational basis. "I
think people are better off going to someone they know and trust.

"If you buy on a website then it could be laced with something that's
really dangerous," he said.

To get Bitcoins, you have to buy some Bitcoins from another service,
then create an account on Silk Road to deposit the Bitcoins before you
can start trading.

The question is, does the site actually serve a purpose?

"I can see, in theory, how it would be easier than trying to find
someone on the street," said Jennifer, a resident of Detroit who buys
marijuana on a regular basis. "However, I'm sure that the cops are all
over this trying to shut it down and I bet they'll manage it one way
or another."

Despite the insular drug community, standard citizens are dead set
against the website.

"I think that's awful," said Karen Wolfe, a resident of Roseville who
has two teenage children. "If I thought my kids could go on the
Internet to buy drugs I would be searching every package that came to
the house. That's just freaky."

And there's another problem for anyone thinking of buying illegal
drugs online. Possession is still against the law, whether the illegal
drugs are purchased online or at the drug pad.