In a single year, abuse of illegal and prescription drugs costs the U.S. an estimated $271.5 billion, due to increased healthcare costs, crime and lost productivity. Not to mention the growing risk of overdose and death as increasingly potent substances, like fentanyl, are introduced to the market.

This is compounded by the increasing ease with which these illegal substances have become available, enabled in no small part by the internet. And these aren’t necessarily from outlets typically viewed as nefarious, like the dark web, but from sites many of us use regularly.

In this episode I am joined by Anandhi Bharadwaj, vice dean and professor with the Goizueta Business School at Emory University to discuss her research which will be published in the INFORMS journal Management Science. Her study, “Drug Abuse and the Internet: Evidence from Craigslist,” looks at the role Craigslist and similar online platforms have played in the increasing abuse of illegal and prescription drugs in the U.S.