Medicine without moral judgement.
Dr Fernando Caudevilla — family physician. More than twenty years caring for people who use drugs, from scientific evidence and harm reduction, and since 2013 on the dark web too.
By video consultation only, by appointment. Health centre licensed by the Regional Government of Madrid, CS14162.
- International Journal of Drug Policy
- EMCDDA
- United Nations
- The New York Times
- Energy Control
- Global Drug Policy Observatory
- The Economist
- Drug Policy Alliance
- Vice
- Adiktologie
Drugs have replaced sexuality as the social taboo. We need to move past moral judgement and acknowledge how complex the relationship between people and drugs really is.
Every dot is one sample analysed
Between 2014 and 2019 the International Analysis Service he coordinated examined 5,879 samples sent in by cryptomarket users around the world. Eleven of them contained fentanyl or its derivatives in heroin: the finding reached the official reports of the United Nations. Read the technical report (PDF)
- Samples analysed
- 5,879
- Questions answered
- 900+
- Views on his threads
- 130,000+
- Years in practice
- 20+
International Analysis Service, 2014–2019
Medical Q&A on cryptomarket forums
Between 2013 and 2015
Family medicine and harm reduction
Areas of expertise
Five fields where reliable information is scarce and prejudice is not.
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Care for people who use drugs
Comprehensive, personalised care grounded in evidence. Motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioural therapy and rational use of medication.
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Chemsex
A biopsychosocial model: the person, the substances and the context. No sensationalism, and no assuming illness where there is none.
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Therapeutic cannabis
From the endocannabinoid system to clinically supported indications and the real routes to therapeutic access.
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Responsible steroid use
Verified information, against both the official line and the forums: doses, protocols, expected adverse effects and blood work.
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Harm reduction on the dark web
Since 2013 on the forums of Silk Road and other cryptomarkets: medical questions, drug checking and adulteration alerts.
The doctor who chose to listen before judging
His professional interest sits where almost nobody wanted to look: at the crossing of the internet, drugs and the health of the people who use them.
He began in 2002 with a review of the effects and risks of MDMA built on more than two hundred scientific papers. From 2001, and for almost twenty years, he was medical adviser to Energy Control, the Spanish NGO that pioneered harm reduction.
In 2013 he opened a medical Q&A on the dark web, at no cost to users, under the alias DoctorX. What began as a thread titled “Ask a medical expert about health and drugs” led to an international drug checking service for cryptomarket users.
He has spoken at conferences in eleven countries, in the Ross Ulbricht case and before the United Nations itself. During the pandemic he returned to front-line care at a Madrid health centre. José Ángel Mañas and Jordi Ledesma turned his story into the novel Doctor X. El médico de la Dark Web (La Esfera de los Libros, 2024).
Career
Two decades of documented work, inside and outside the public health system.
Selected publications
Peer-reviewed research in drug policy and public health.
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2021
Drug cryptomarkets in the 2020s: policy, enforcement, harm, and resilience
Policy Brief 16 · Global Drug Policy Observatory
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2017
The hidden web and the fentanyl problem: detection of ocfentanil as an adulterant in heroin
International Journal of Drug Policy · 40:78–83
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2016
Results of an international drug testing service for cryptomarket users
International Journal of Drug Policy · 35:38–41
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2016
The emergence of deep web marketplaces: a health perspective
The Internet and Drug Markets · EMCDDA Insights 21
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2016
Netreach work: implementing web-based harm reduction interventions with online drug users
Adiktologie · 2:182–187
Private video consultation
An hour to talk about what other consultations cannot. Without moral judgement, and with verified information.
- Comprehensive care: physical, psychological, social and emotional
- Motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy
- Rational use of medication, never to mask symptoms
- Confidentiality under Spanish data protection law and Act 41/2002
First appointment
60 minutes
100 €
Follow-up
45 minutes
75 €
Payment methods
- Bank transfer
- Bizum
- PayPal
- Cryptocurrency
The services provided do not include prescribing products not authorised by the Spanish Medicines Agency (AEMPS). Nor is it possible to issue certificates exempting anyone from Act 4/2015 on Public Safety with regard to controlled substances. Patient data is held in a file registered with the Spanish Data Protection Agency.