Sewage measures drug usage
Submitted by felix on Mon, 27/01/2014 - 17:32
Location:
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2014/jan/narcotics-in-sewage
An interesting article on a scientist's collation of data on drug levels in sewage - showing weekend spikes in recreationals and a steady dose of methadone - what I would have expected.
27/01/2014
Comments
What our waste reveals about our behaviour.
"Though nascent, such research could help tackle the drug problem across America, said Caleb Banta-Green, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Washington."
A quote from the article, it's hard to see how it would be a major asset for tackling the drug problem. Also hard to imagine that it is only since 2005 that they have been using this and similar tests to build up a picture of drug use.
"And wastewater doesn’t lie" which makes it more likely for countries with poor human rights records to consider monitoring household, perhaps even individual sewage outputs. Where evidence of illegal drugs or their metabolites exist, the information could conceivably trigger an alert which would make the offending sewage outlet more carefully monitored.
Are we looking at an important recent development in the 'War on Drugs'?