I understand that the service kept everyone anonymous, but there's still the problem of delivery. How did the actual delivery of drugs work? And doesn't the government have ways to detect drugs in the mail?
This is unknown, but my assumption after looking at transaction records is yes.
> Or were they suburban kids?
I'm not even sure what "suburban kids" means. I think there's a wider demographic of low end product buyers, than what you describe, but yes.
> How did the actual delivery of drugs work?
From public sources, it appears the dealer would typically use prepaid shipping and drop it into a public postal box for delivery.
> And doesn't the government have ways to detect drugs in the mail?
Yes, and it seems like criminals are always one step ahead. I know that this summer, just prior to DPR's arrest that dealers were using some scheme that involved multiple layers of sealed mylar to counter the gov't's detection techniques. Sometimes these bags were stashed inside a figurine or some other object, and sometimes they were slipped inside the pages of a magazine.
Though I myself have never purchased anything from Silk Road, I knew a group of (rich, suburban) kids who purchased drugs (and other stuff, like fake IDs) off of Silk Road and Black Market Reloaded, another illegal Tor marketplace. From what I understand shipments were hidden, and very hard to detect. For example, if a number of pills we're being shipped, they'd be sowed into the lining of a purse, or hidden in the battery compartment of a cheap calculator. That item would then be shipped like a normal item, usually through USPS.
Though the government has certain ways to detect certain drugs in the mail (cocaine and pot are easy to detect, where as LSD or Class Two pills are almost impossible), most of its efforts are focused on international mail and keeping drugs from being smuggled into the country. As domestic detection was almost unheard of (unless the police were specifically tipped off) most people would only purchase from sellers in the US.
I mean, just look at what some people are doing in terms of selfbrewed beers and stuff. That is hightech meticulously planned do it yourself machinery and botany.
2) you'd be supposed by the dedication of some suburban stoner kids who don't have a care in the world for anything else, but marticulously tend to their pot plants.
It was the anonimity on the web that made it a big deal, not the shipment. That was easy :)