Murguia, Tucker-Gibson and Lessum apply cutting-edge cyber ethnographic methods towards an understanding of new patterns of drug use, acquisition and community in the Twenty-First Century. A must read for those interested in how access and use of online internet technologies shape social and personal life and influence the social construction of reality among these emerging drug subcultures.

Avelardo Valdez, professor of social work, University of Houston

Online drug information websites, listservs and chat rooms all play a crucial role in how young people obtain and share knowledge and experience about illicit drugs. Until now few researchers have focused on this topic. Murguia, Tackett-Gibson and Lessem's book, Real drugs in a Virtual World, opens up this new area of research. The essays explore not only the role of the internet in providing information on illicit drugs but also the range and variety of topics discussed by the young people themselves. The publication of this book will hopefully encourage other drug researchers to focus more specifically on the role of the Internet in the world of illicit drugs.

Geoffrey Hunt, Senior Scientist, Institute for Scientific Analysis