Digitalization of Countering Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Substances: Methodological Foundations, Administrative-Law, Criminal-Law and Civil-Law Aspects
Author(s): Mykhaylo Styranka*, Oksana Zuieva, Valeriia Hnatenko, Oleksandr Holovkov and Stanislav Merdov
Abstract
Aim: This paper examines, across several branches of law, how Ukraine is moving to digital tools in its fight against the illegal circulation of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues and precursors. The authors argue that once the drug trade itself has gone online-with orders placed in messengers, Telegram bots and darknet marketplaces, payment made in virtual assets, and goods handed over through hidden caches or by post-the state can respond effectively only if its own counteraction is digitalized to a comparable degree.
Methods: The research rests on a systems approach: The authors treat the response to drug trafficking as a layered structure in which instruments of administrative, criminal and civil law operate together and reinforce one another.
Results: Using 2023-2026 figures published by the public health center of Ukraine’s health ministry, the national police and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the paper traces how drugrelated crime has developed. Recorded offences rose from 38,670 (2023) to 48,629 (2025), an increase of roughly a quarter, yet convictions still correspond to only about 25% of that volume. The data also reveal a marked mismatch between how often trafficking offences under Article 307 of the criminal code are registered and how rarely anyone is actually convicted of selling drugs. On this basis the authors set out the methodological principles of digitalization: A systemic view, lawfulness and proportionality, usability of digital data as evidence, compatibility of state information systems, and a risk-based focus.
Conclusion: The paper describes the relevant toolkit in each branch: In administrative law-electronic records of circulation, e-prescriptions, licence supervision and monitoring; in criminal law-the legal assessment of online sales, digital evidence and Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT); in civil law-the invalidity of illegal transactions, compensation of harm and the status of virtual assets. It concludes by offering an integrated model of digital counteraction together with suggestions for legislative reform.