Sci-fi economics of drugs

A few blue bippies.

I'm a sci-fi author, of space opera such as Galaxy Dog, and I'm always on the look out for weird tidbits of information I can add to my sci-fi setting, called Dark Galaxy, to make it more believable.

I'm particularly interested, as I said in an earlier post, in economics.

And I have just seen such an interesting tidbit, which touches on economics, but also crime and drugs, a heady brew to be sure.

According to the Guardian: Dark web dealers have voluntarily banned deadly fentanyl. I was fascinated to read that these

Major dark web drug suppliers, whoever they are, have started to voluntarily ban the synthetic opioid fentanyl because it is too dangerous.
 

This puts it alongside mass-casualty firearms and explosives, as commodities that are considered too high-risk to trade, even by Dark Web types. Apoarently Fentanyl can be up to 100 times stronger than heroin, which neans it can easily cause accidental overdoses.

The thinking is that this is a commercial decision, because selling a drug that could lead to fatalities could be more likely to get the dealers unwanted attention from the police.

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I have written, and am still writing a sci-fi series called Dark Galaxy that starts with Galaxy Dog, go buy it from Amazon.

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The article says this is the first known instance of these types of operators moving to effectively ban a drug. Whether this has anything to do with pressure from the actual drug users on the dark web who say on forums that they don't think it's right that people are selling fentanyl because it is dangerous and kills a lot of people, is very much open to doubt.

After one fentanyl dealer was busted, police rushed to track down the 160 or so clients who had bought from him, only to find that four of his customers were already dead.

This is already a very sci-fi drug, even though it is out there, right now, and some drug based on it would be a great addition to a sci-fi background called Dark Galaxy. A story about some underworld bruisers with some drugs on their hands that they can't sell because they are too dangerous, almost writes itself. Almost...