Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse

Abstract

BackgroundCocaine use seems to be increasing in some urban areas worldwide, but it is not straightforward to determine the real extent of this phenomenon. Trends in drug abuse are currently estimated indirectly, mainly by large-scale social, medical, and crime statistics that may be biased or too generic. We thus tested a more direct approach based on 'field' evidence of cocaine use by the general population.MethodsCocaine and its main urinary metabolite (benzoylecgonine, BE) were measured by mass spectrometry in water samples collected from the River Po and urban waste water treatment plants of medium-size Italian cities. Drug concentration, water flow rate, and population at each site were used to estimate local cocaine consumption.ResultsWe showed that cocaine and BE are present, and measurable, in surface waters of populated areas. The largest Italian river, the Po, with a five-million people catchment basin, steadily carried the equivalent of about 4 kg cocaine per day. This would imply an average daily use of at least 27 ± 5 doses (100 mg each) for every 1000 young adults, an estimate that greatly exceeds official national figures. Data from waste water treatment plants serving medium-size Italian cities were consistent with this figure.ConclusionThis paper shows for the first time that an illicit drug, cocaine, is present in the aquatic environment, namely untreated urban waste water and a major river. We used environmental cocaine levels for estimating collective consumption of the drug, an approach with the unique potential ability to monitor local drug abuse trends in real time, while preserving the anonymity of individuals. The method tested here – in principle extendable to other drugs of abuse – might be further refined to become a standardized, objective tool for monitoring drug abuse.

Illicit drugs in Canadian municipal wastewater and estimates of community drug use

“…In Europe, methamphetamine is generally present at lower concentrations (i.e. <10 ng/L) in untreated wastewater, but the concentrations of MDMA and amphetamine are comparable to the levels reported in the present study (Zuccato et al, 2005;Castiglioni et al, 2006;Postigo et al, 2010).…”

“…2), which can be attributed to the primary treatment technologies used in this plant. Because of WWTP1, the maximum concentrations of the target compounds detected in the present study in treated wastewater (Table 3) were generally higher or close to the maximum concentrations reported for treated wastewater in WWTPs from Europe (Zuccato et al, 2005;Postigo et al, 2010). Fig.…”

“…These concentrations are very similar to the range of concentrations of these compounds detected in untreated wastewater from WWTPs in the USA (Chiaia et al, 2008) and in Europe (Zuccato et al, 2005;Castiglioni et al, 2006;Mari et al, 2009;Postigo et al, 2010). Fig.…”

“…1). These ratios are markedly different from the ratios observed in untreated wastewater from cities in continental Europe (Zuccato et al, 2008a(Zuccato et al, , 2005Castiglioni et al, 2006;Mari et al, 2009;Postigo et al, 2010) and in the USA (Chiaia et al, 2008), Table 2 Target compounds and stable isotope surrogates surveyed in this study, with chemical formulas, the chromatographic retention times, the mass spectrometric SRM ion transitions, de-clustering potential (DP) and collision energies for analysis, and the limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) for the target analytes dissolved in wastewater (ng/L) and adsorbed to particulates (ng/g dry weight).…”

“…Drug consumption can be estimated from data on the concentrations of the target compounds in untreated wastewater, the flow rates into municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the population served by the WWTP, human excretion rates for the target compounds in urine, and estimates of the drug dose. This method has been used to estimate use patterns for drugs of abuse in continental Europe (Zuccato et al, 2005;Castiglioni et al, 2006;Mari et al, 2009;Postigo et al, 2010), in Wales (KasprzykHordern et al, 2009) and in Ireland (Bones et al, 2007). Recently, the concentrations of illicit drugs were determined in wastewater from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the USA (Chiaia et al, 2008;Bartelt-Hunt et al, 2009;Loganathan et al, 2009), although these studies did not include estimates of community drug consumption.…”