Drug Testing An Entire City

[StrawberryFields]

Teaspoon of urine can drug test an entire city

Scientists say sewer water sampling tracks community’s meth, cocaine use

Updated: 4:06 p.m. MT Aug 21, 2007

WASHINGTON - Researchers have figured out how to give an entire community a drug test using just a teaspoon of wastewater from a city’s sewer plant.

The test wouldn’t be used to finger any single person as a drug user. But it would help federal law enforcement and other agencies track the spread of dangerous drugs, like methamphetamines, across the country.

Oregon State University scientists tested 10 unnamed American cities for remnants of drugs, both legal and illegal, from wastewater streams. They were able to show that they could get a good snapshot of what people are taking.

“It’s a community urinalysis,” said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington drug abuse researcher who was part of the Oregon State team. The scientists presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

Two federal agencies have taken samples from U.S. waterways to see if drug testing a whole city is doable, but they haven’t gotten as far as the Oregon researchers.

Test results

One of the early results of the new study showed big differences in methamphetamine use city to city. One urban area with a gambling industry had meth levels more than five times higher than other cities. Yet methamphetamine levels were virtually nonexistent in some smaller Midwestern locales, said Jennifer Field, the lead researcher and a professor of environmental toxicology at Oregon State.

INTERACTIVE

A look at how heroin, cocaine and other drugs affect the body

The ingredient Americans consume and excrete the most was caffeine, Field said.

Cities in the experiment ranged from 17,000 to 600,000 in population, but Field declined to identify them, saying that could harm her relationship with the sewage plant operators.

She plans to start a survey for drugs in the wastewater of at least 40 Oregon communities.

The science behind the testing is simple. Nearly every drug — legal and illicit — that people take leaves the body. That waste goes into toilets and then into wastewater treatment plants.

“Wastewater facilities are wonderful places to understand what humans consume and excrete,” Field said.

In the study presented Tuesday, one teaspoon of untreated sewage water from each of the cities was tested for 15 different drugs. Field said researchers can’t calculate how many people in a town are using drugs.

Questionnaires underestimate drug use

She said that one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week.

Field said her study suggests that a key tool currently used by drug abuse researchers — self-reported drug questionnaires — underestimates drug use.

“We have so few indicators of current use,” said Jane Maxwell of the Addiction Research Institute at the University of Texas, who wasn’t part of the study. “This could be a very interesting new indicator.”

David Murray, chief scientist for U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the idea interests his agency.

Murray said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing federal wastewater samples just to see if that’s a good method for monitoring drug use. But he didn’t know how many tests were conducted or where.

The EPA will “flush out the details” on testing, Benjamin Grumbles joked. The EPA assistant administrator said the agency is already looking at the problem of potential harm to rivers and lakes from legal pharmaceuticals.

The idea of testing on a citywide basis for drugs makes sense, as long as it doesn’t violate people’s privacy, said Tom Angell of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington-based group that wants looser drug laws.

“This seems to be less offensive than individualized testing,” he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20380094/wid/11915773?gt1=10316

[Annabelli]

It would have been a lot more private if they had not shared it with the world. But it will make finding meth labs easier....porta potties on location. Think of it as a drive by porta potty shooting.

[StrawberryFields]

I was doing some research about this drug problem and came across this link which you can click on the link for the DVD and it will play.

I personally know two people who have died from the use of Oxycontin.

http://www.reptaylor.com/?sectionid=117&sectiontree=117

[StrawberryFields]

Here is more on oxycontin...

http://www.prescriptionaddictionradio.com/...7%20excerpt.mp3

[Elphaba]

I personally know two people who have died from the use of Oxycotin.

Strawberry, can you say how they died? What they did?

Elphaba

It would have been a lot more private if they had not shared it with the world. But it will make finding meth labs easier....porta potties on location. Think of it as a drive by porta potty shooting.

I don't see this as a violation of privacy whatsoever as there's absolutely no way to identify an individual via the test.

They also will be taking samples from the city's sewage plant, not any kind of individual units, so porta potties are out.

I love it when science solves a problem so effectively. I would think this will make a lot of people's jobs much easier in the future.

Elphaba

[StrawberryFields]

<div class='quotemain'>I personally know two people who have died from the use of Oxycontin.

Strawberry, can you say how they died? What they did?

Elphaba

Yes, The first one had back problems and was prescribed oxycontin for the pain. When they started to cut back on the dose he turn to robbing pharmacies. Finally he got what a wanted completely out of the pain.... he died.

The other one was a friend of his and choose to take these pill recreationally. He took some went to bed and never woke up.

[FrankJL]

Oxycontin abuse is most likely what caused Rush Limbaugh to lose his hearing also.

[steve354]

Presonally I have little faith these people. I was told the other day that by the year 2012 the too poles will be up side down.

We will just have wait and see if their can get it right. 9 times out of 10 not even the poor old weather man can get it right.

[bunnzy]

I think its a great idea. How better to reliably monitor the tracks of drug usage and selling? This way they can isolate what areas need the most help.

(off topic - Yay im a consul!)