Can cocaine use be evaluated through analysis of wastewater? A nation‐wide approach conducted in Belgium

Abstract

Aims Cocaine is the second most-used illicit drug world-wide and its consumption is increasing significantly, especially in western Europe. Until now, the annual prevalence has been estimated indirectly by means of interviews. A recently introduced and direct nation-wide approach based on measurements of the major urinary excreted metabolite of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, in wastewater is proposed. Design Wastewater samples from 41 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Belgium, covering approximately 3 700 000 residents, were collected. Each WWTP was sampled on Wednesdays and Sundays during two sampling campaigns in 2007-08. Samples were analysed for cocaine (COC) and its metabolites, benzoylecgonine (BE) and ecgonine methylester (EME) by a validated procedure based on liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Concentrations of BE were used to calculate cocaine consumption (g/day per 1000 inhabitants) for each WWTP region and for both sampling campaigns (g/year per 1000 inhabitants). Findings Weekend days showed significantly higher cocaine consumption compared with weekdays. The highest cocaine consumption was observed for WWTPs receiving wastewater from large cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi. Results were extrapolated for the total Belgian population and an estimation of a yearly prevalence of cocaine use was made based on various assumptions. An amount of 1.88 tonnes (t) per year [standard error (SE) 0.05 t] cocaine is consumed in Belgium, corresponding to a yearly prevalence of 0.80% (SE 0.02%) for the Belgian population aged 15-64 years. This result is in agreement with an earlier reported estimate of the Belgian prevalence of cocaine use conducted through socio-epidemiological studies (0.9% for people aged 15-64 years). Conclusions Wastewater analysis is a promising tool to evaluate cocaine consumption at both local and national scale. This rapid and direct estimation of the prevalence of cocaine use in Belgium corresponds with socioepidemiological data. However, the strategy needs to be refined further to allow a more exact calculation of cocaine consumption from concentrations of BE in wastewater.

Illicit Drugs, Metabolites and Adulterants in Wastewater: Monitoring Community Drug Abuse in the Brazilian Federal District during the 2014 Soccer World Cup

“…15,35 van Nuijs et al 10 suggested a cutoff value of 0.75 for the evaluation of abnormal COC/BE ratios with higher values indicating the absence of in vivo metabolization when the microbial conversion of COC into BE in the sewage system is slow and gradual. In Figure 1, all COC/BE values for both South and North-Wing WWTPs samples were lower than the cut-off value suggesting that measured COC and BE resulted from human consumption.…”

“…g day -1 , doses day -1 , mg day -1 per habitant or doses day -1 per 1000 inhabitants). 9,10 Brazil is located nearby cocaine-producing countries such as Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, thus being an important route for drug trafficking. In addition, our country has experienced an increase of smoked cocaine consumption 11 leading our research group to conduct WBDE studies.…”

Population drug use in Australia: A wastewater analysis

“…Zuccato et al [11] showed increased concentrations of cocaine and MDMA on the weekend wastewater samples in Italy. van Nuijs et al [12] found higher concentration of cocaine and its metabolites in Belgian weekend samples. Cocaine and MDMA consumption on weekends and during a music festival were higher than weekdays in France [13].…”

Analysis of cocaine and nicotine metabolites in wastewater by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Cross abuse index patterns on a major community

“…The analysis of sewage drug biomarkers (SDBs) has recently been established as a complementary approach for monitoring patterns and trends of illicit drug use in communities (Banta-Green et al, 2009;Berset et al, 2010;Castiglioniet al, 2011;Irvine et al, 2011;Karolak et al, 2010;Metcalfe et al, 2010;Reid et al, 2011;Terzic et al, 2010;van Nuijs, et al, 2011a;van Nuijs et al, 2009a;Zuccato et al, 2008). In 2012 it has been published the first harmonized study involving drug wastewater analysis in 19 European cities (Thomas 2012).…”