Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse.
Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse.
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DOI：
10.1186/1476-069x-4-14
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发表时间：
2005-08-05
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Fanelli R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zuccato E;Chiabrando C;Castiglioni S;Calamari D;Bagnati R;Schiarea S;Fanelli R
可卡因的使用在世界范围内的一些城市地区似乎正在增加，但要确定这一现象的真正程度并不直接。目前，药物滥用的趋势是间接估计的，主要是通过可能有偏见或过于笼统的大规模社会、医疗和犯罪统计数据。因此，我们根据普通人群使用可卡因的“现场”证据，测试了一种更直接的方法。用质谱仪测定了来自意大利中等城市波河和城市污水处理厂的水样中可卡因及其主要尿代谢物苯甲酰ecGonine的含量。药物浓度、水流率和每个地点的人口被用来估计当地的可卡因消费量。我们表明，在人口稠密地区的地表水中存在可卡因和Be，并且可以测量到它们的存在。意大利最大的河流波河拥有500万人的集水池，每天稳定携带相当于4公斤可卡因的水。这将意味着平均每天每1000名年轻人至少使用27±5剂(每人100毫克)，这一估计大大超过了官方的国家数据。为意大利中等城市服务的废水处理厂的数据与这一数字一致。这份文件首次表明，在未经处理的城市废水和一条主要河流的水环境中存在一种非法药物--可卡因。我们使用环境可卡因水平来估计药物的集体消费，这种方法具有实时监测当地药物滥用趋势的独特潜力，同时保持个人的匿名性。这里测试的方法--原则上可以推广到其他滥用药物--可能会进一步完善，成为监测药物滥用的标准化、客观的工具。
Cocaine 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. Cocaine 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. We 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. This 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.