What Wastewater Contaminants Say About Europe's Drug Culture
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
A study from the European Union’s drug monitoring board analyzed wastewater contaminants to find out Europe’s most popular street drugs.
The study, from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, examined wastewater from over 50 European cities. “The results provide a valuable snapshot of the drug flow through the cities involved, revealing marked geographical variations,” the study said.
The researchers observed that “cocaine use is higher in western and some southern European cities and lower in northern and eastern European cities. Amphetamine use was found to be relatively evenly distributed across European cities, although with highest levels reported in the north and northwest of Europe,” the study said.
“In contrast, methamphetamine use is concentrated in cities within the Czech Republic, Slovakia and northern Europe, while the observed methamphetamine loads in the other locations were very low to negligible,” it continued. The study showed that London residents do more cocaine than any other European city, including Amsterdam.
Newsweek reported: “In 2014, London, with a population of more than 8 million, flushed an average of 737 milligrams of cocaine down the toilet for every 1,000 people per day. Analysis from sewers in Amsterdam found 716.4 milligrams of cocaine per 1,000 people.”
Some drug particles move out of people’s bodies and into the sewage system. The study said that “in the case of cocaine, the source is traces of the drug excreted from the bodies of users, but for other drugs it is unclear how much is due to traces of drugs in human waste and how much comes from drugs dumped directly.”
Sometimes excreted drugs wind up in the drinking water supply. Water Online reported: “It has long been known that there are trace amounts of PPCPs (pharmaceutical and personal care products) that escape our wastewater treatment plants and end up in waterways, including drinking water sources." U.S. regulators are considering whether to create restrictions of PPCPs.