Editing Operation Web Tryp

{{Short description|American DEA investigation into 'grey market' drugs}}
{{Infobox event
| title                    = Operation Web Tryp
| date                     = July 21, 2004 (end date)
| type                     = Law enforcement operation
| theme                    = 
| cause                    = Investigation of "research chemical" websites
| motive                   = To stop the distribution of unscheduled tryptamines and phenethylamines
| target                   = Websites selling "grey market" drugs
| perpetrator              = 
| organisers               = 
| outcome                  = 10 arrests<br>shutdown of 5 websites<br>seizure of assets
| reported deaths          = 2 (attributed to products from the websites)
| reported injuries        = 14 non-fatal overdoses
| arrests                  = 10 (Operation Web Tryp)<br>22 (Operation Ismene)
| convicted                = Website owner sentenced to 410 years
| charges                  = Drug distribution
| notes                    = 
}}

'''Operation Web Tryp''' was a United States [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] operation that ended on July 21, 2004 with the arrests of 10 persons. Its purpose was to investigate web sites suspected of distribution of unscheduled, unregulated [[tryptamines]] and [[phenethylamines]] of questionable legality.  This trade in "[[grey market]]" drugs, which were not explicitly illegal but potentially prosecutable as drug analogs, became known as the "[[research chemical]]" trade; a euphemism to suggest that the chemicals were being sold for industrial or academic research rather than human consumption.<ref name="Power2013">{{cite book|author=Mike Power|title=Drugs 2.0: The Web Revolution That's Changing How the World Gets High|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iTIy0MoDxsC|date=2 May 2013|publisher=Granta Publications|isbn=978-1-84627-461-9|pages=92–95|chapter=The rise and fall of the research chemical scene}}</ref>

Five websites were involved in Operation Web Tryp.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=2004-07-22|title=DEA announces arrests of website operators selling illegal designer drugs|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr072204.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051225170211/https://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr072204.html|archive-date=2005-12-25|access-date=|website=|publisher=Drug Enforcement Administration}}</ref> One of these websites, pondman.nu, was allegedly taking in U.S. $20,000 per week and grossed $700,000 before being shut down. Another, racresearch.com, reportedly grossed $500,000 in 14 months.<ref name=wired>David McCandless, [http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2005/07/68049?currentPage=all "Bad Trip for Online Drug Peddlers"], ''Wired'' magazine, July 6, 2005</ref>

In 2005, a court ruled that [[Alphamethyltryptamine|AMT]] sold by pondman.nu caused the April 2002 death of an 18-year-old male in upstate New York and the site's owner was sentenced to 410 years in prison.<ref name="Power2013"/> The DEA also alleged a product  sold by ''americanchemicalsupply.com'' caused the death of a 22-year-old Louisiana man. Fourteen other non-fatal overdose incidents requiring hospitalization were also cited by the DEA.<ref name=wired/>

In December 2004, using credit card information provided by the DEA, British police arrested 22 UK residents who had purchased [[2C-I]] through the seized web sites (Operation Ismene).<ref name="Power2013"/><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4111625.stm |title=Arrests in online drugs operation |date=20 December 2004 |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> No one was jailed and most were released without charge.<ref name="Power2013"/> No customers in the United States were known to be arrested.<ref name=wired/>{{Relevance inline|paragraph|date=March 2025|discuss=Article scope creep|reason=This paragraph is about a different operation. Scope creep?}}

== Legality ==
Although these chemicals were not yet scheduled, a long shadow was cast on their legality by the 1986 [[Federal Analog Act]]. This Act and the ''United States v. Forbes'' [[Colorado]] federal district court case stipulated that the [[legal burden of proof|burden of proof]], in regards for the intention for human consumption, was on the government if any prosecution under the Federal Analog Act was to occur. Additionally, legal ambiguities regarding the legality of certain analogs of scheduled substances had been established in the aforementioned court case (In particular, the similarities of [[Alpha-ethyltryptamine|AET]] and [[Dimethyltryptamine|DMT]] were debated).

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Web Tryp, Operation}}
[[Category:2004 in American law]]
[[Category:Drug Enforcement Administration operations]]
[[Category:Drugs in the United States]]