ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) —
Waste water analysis using urinary biomarkers allows the reliable
detection of actual drug consumption in cities. For the first time, a
wide group of scientists have carried out a comparative study regarding
the consumption of illegal drugs in 19 European cities, four of which
are Spanish, based on waste water analysis. In the case of Spain,
cannabis and cocaine consumption is higher than that of other drugs such
as methamphetamines and ecstasy, appearing in each of the four cities
analysed: Barcelona, Castelló de la Plana, Santiago de Compostela and
Valencia.
Research centres and universities from 11 European countries have
participated in the study. In the case of Spain, the investigation was
carried out by the University Institute of Pesticides and Waters at the
Universitat Jaume I in Castelló (researcher responsible, Dr. Félix
Hernández), the Department of Preventative Medicine at the Universidad
de Valencia (Dr. Yolanda Picó), the Department of Chemical Analysis from
the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Dr. Benito Quintana) and the
Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC of the Institute for
Environmental Diagnosis and Water Research (IDAEA) of the Scientific
Research National Council (CSIC) in Barcelona (Dr. Miren López de Alda).
The initiative for the study began in the Norwegian Institute for Water
Research (NIVA) and from the Instituto Mario Negri de Investigación
Farmacológica, in Milan.
To carry out the investigation, urban waste water was collected from a
total of 19 European cities over the course of a week in March 2011.
Urinary biomarkers for cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, methamphetamines
and cannabis were used on the samples. The results were published July 2
6in the specialist journal
Science of the Total Environment.
The analysis allowed the estimation of drug consumption for each one of
the 19 cities and the results were normalised according to the size of
the city that was investigated. This means that larger cities, such as
London or Barcelona, can be directly compared with smaller cities such
as Castelló or Santiago de Compostela.
Amongst the main conclusions of the study, the researchers
responsible for the investigation highlight the fact that the highest
consumption of cocaine, expressed in milligrams consumed per day per
1000 inhabitants, corresponds to Antwerp, followed by Amsterdam,
Valencia, Eindhoven and Barcelona. With regards to Castelló, consumption
is similar to that of cities such as Utrecht or London, and slightly
higher than Santiago, which is on the same level as Paris, Milan or
Brussels. On the other hand, cocaine consumption in Nordic countries can
be viewed as low. It is estimated that 365 kilograms is consumed daily,
which represents approximately between 10 and 15% of worldwide cocaine
consumption, according to estimates from the United Nations Office of
Drugs and Organised Crime.
In contrast with cocaine, the consumption of methamphetamines is
higher in the north and north-west of Europe, principally in Scandinavia
and the Czech Republic. In general, in the group of drugs related to
amphetamines, methamphetamines and amphetamines themselves are those
which dominate in European waste water. In Castellón, neither of these
two drugs was detected in the waters, whereas Barcelona, Valencia and
Santiago showed levels which corresponded to mid/low consumption, lower
than those levels in the north of Europe.
With regards to MDMA consumpution, known as ecstasy, Castelló also
appears to be low, as it was not detected in waste water. Ecstasy
consumption in Valencia and Santiago is approximately half of that in
Barcelona, but, in any case, much lower than consumption in countries
such as Holland and Belgium.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120726112938.htm
