It's no surprise that the dark market has brought many innovations to the illegal drug trade, especially when it comes to the consumer side. Many drugs in the past have actually become cheaper because the supply line has been cut much shorter. In the past you might have had 4-5 middle men who spent years building connections with drug cartels and manufacturers, while now you can just buy from either the supplier or the first one in the chain, directly. While this has affected many drugs, I want to talk about how it probably has affected lsd the most.
LSD now compared to what it cost in the past is extremely cheap. There are many reasons for this, but we will go over that it a bit. For now I want to talk about how you had to get lsd in the past. LSD was mostly controlled by either biker gangs or roadies associated with certain bands or festivals. The highest quality lsd was rumored to be available from specific groups like the Grateful Dead family who would follow around the band making money by selling lsd. However a select few were able to purchase large amounts from them to resell to others.
In order to do this it is rumored they had a type of blog test where you would be given a very high level of lsd and if you didn't flip out and had a good trip they would permit you to resell for them or even join their group. This was obviously very restrictive for people who wanted to purchase the drug for entertainment and the prices often reflected that. The problem is there were people all over the world who were making lsd of a decent quality but if they tried to move into the us market they were often muscled out.
As drug crackdowns stated getting worse in the us, prices continued to rise, but with the release of dark markets and the internet, anew age was ushered in. You could buy high quality lsd online with little trace due to the ease of shipping and the ability to hide it in almost anything. Paper ends up being very easy to ship when it comes down to it. No more blot tests and no more bullshit just to be able to sell. With reputable sellers with premium quality lsd hardly ever getting caught, they could charge low rates and still make money hand over fist.
The market was forever changed and now lsd is extremely affordable for the experimental teenage or colllege student. The spread of the drug as well has increased dramatically. I find this story very interesting because it not only shows the value that dark markets have but also currencies that have anonymity. Even with the shutdown of recent dark markets, there will always be another which will pop up and take the crown. This adds competition which in return makes drugs like lsd cheaper
Thanks to @Elyaque for the badges