Looking for Cocaine in the River Po

Off of the Robot Wisdom Weblog, I found this article about Italian researchers looking for urinary metabolites of cocaine in surface water. The article points to a paper in the online Environmental Health which summarizes a study where cocaine and its main urinary metabolite benzoylecgonine (or BE) were analyzed in water samples collected from the River Po and urban waste water treatment plants of medium-size Italian cities. The analytical data, water flow rate, and population at each site were then used to estimate local cocaine consumption. It seemed like a novel way to develop data on drug use, and may have other applications. It’s not the first time I’ve heard about analyzing surface water discharges for consumer products. The U.S. Geological Survey has been quantifying endocrine disruptors in wastewater, introducing the phrase “emerging contaminants”, which covers chemicals in municipal sewer discharges as well as industrial discharges. However, I’m not aware that anyone has tried to quantify product uses through wastewater data.

The researchers concluded:

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.

I don’t have a comment on this, not being familiar with the statistics on cocaine consumption. However, the news article I found had this to say about it:

The investigative team described the findings as "staggering", which comes as a bit of a surprise since the river Po benefits from the presence of world fashion capital Milan - generally considered to have the greatest percentage of anorexic models among its population and therefore the planet's highest per capita consumption of Bolivian marching powder.

Bolivian marching powder?