The Internet and lifestyle drugs: an analysis of demographic characteristics, methods, and motives of online purchasers of illicit lifestyle drugs in the Netherlands

Figures & data

Table 1. Types of medicine purchased online (N = 50,848).

	All medicines purchased online		Illicit medicines purchased online
	(1) n	(2) Percentage of all medicines purchased online	(3) n	(4) Percentage of all illicit medicines purchased online
Painkillers	1640	31.8%	210	25.4%
Weight loss drugs	1397	27.0%	200	24.1%
Sedatives and tranquillisers	733	14.2%	157	18.9%
Sexual enhancers	723	14.0%	232	28.0%
Birth control	669	13.0%	87	10.5%
Quit smoking medication	387	7.5%	101	12.3%
Muscle drugs	334	6.5%	89	10.7%
Antibiotics	319	6.2%	100	12.1%
Antidepressants	274	5.3%	90	10.9%
ADHD medicines	267	5.2%	90	10.8%
Antiviral medicines	265	5.1%	90	10.9%
Other	1612	31.2%	220	26.6%

Some of these respondents reported that they purchased more than one variety of medicine. Therefore, columns (1) and (3) sum to more than the n-number of respondents, and columns (2) and (4) sum to more than 100%.

Table 2. Medicines by the gender of buyers (n = 5165).

	Gender online buyers all medicines		Gender online buyers illicit medicines
	(1) Male	(2) Female	(3) Male	(4) Female
Sexual enhancers	85.6%	14.4%*	90%	10%*
Antiviral medicines	84.2%	15.8%*	92.2%	7.8%*
Muscle drugs	82.9%	17.1%*	88,6%	11.4%*
Antidepressants	77.3%	22.7%*	88.9%	11.1%*
ADHD medicines	77.2%	22.8%*	92.2%	7.8%*
Antibiotics	76.8%	23.2%*	83%	17%*
Quit smoking medication	69.3%	30.7%*	82.4%	17.6%*
Painkillers	56.2%	43.8%	71.4%	28.6%*
Sedatives and tranquillisers	55.5%	44.5%	69.2%	30.8%*
Birth control	49%	51%	78.2%	21.8%*
Weight loss drugs	38.7%	61.3%*	51.5%	48.5%
Rest group	52%	48%	65.5%	34.5%*
Total	50.6%	49.4%	64.1%	35.9%*

* Significant differences between male and female purchasers.

Table 3. Mean age of online buyers per medicine type (n = 5165).

	Age online buyers all medicines		Age online buyers illicit medicines
	Mean age	Standard deviation	Mean age	Standard deviation
Painkillers	44.3	15.7	42.4	16.4
Sedatives and tranquillisers	40.4	15.7	39	15
Weight loss drugs	39.1	13.5	40.7	14.7
Antiviral medicines	36.3	12.5	31.7	12
Sexual enhancers	35.7	13.3	42	15.3
Antibiotics	35.3	13.6	34.2	13.6
Antidepressants	34.7	12.7	30.9	10.0
Quit smoking medication	34.6	11.1	36.6	13.8
Muscle drugs	34.0	11.8	31.5	11.5
Birth control	33.7	10.2	32.3	10.8
ADHD medicines	32.4	10.3	28.8	7.7
Rest group	42.8	15.8	44.3	16.7
Total	44.7	15.4	44.5	15.5

Figure 1. Motivations for purchasing sexual enhancers (n = 88) and weight loss drugs (n = 70).

Figure 2. Reasons why buyers trust a website when purchasing sexual enhancers (n = 88) and weight loss drugs (n = 70).

Figure 3. Type of website used for purchasing sexual enhancers (n = 88) and weight loss drugs (n = 70).

Figure 4. Variety in the websites used for purchasing sexual enhancers (n = 88) and weight loss drugs (n = 70).

Figure 5. Low to high satisfaction of consumers concerning the quality of and information on online purchased sexual enhancers (n = 88) and weight loss drugs (n = 70).