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Drug Testing Entire Cities at Once

Posted by samzenpus on from the be-careful-where-you-go dept.

Ellis D. Tripp writes "Researchers have developed a technique for determining what illicit drugs people might be consuming in a given area, by testing a sample from the local sewage treatment plant. As little as a teaspoonful of untreated wastewater can reveal drug use patterns in a given community. Obviously, any drugs found can't be tied to any specific user, but how much longer until the drug warriors want to deploy automatic sampling units farther upstream of the sewage treatment plant?" From the article: "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."

4 of 562 comments (clear)

  1. Tracing Of Users? by excelblue · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder, if they start doing more and more extensive tests, could they eventually determine the household in which the drugs come from? What's preventing them from testing the sewer water directly out of a house, instead of a waste plant.

    Will there be a need for sewer search warrants in the future? Hmm...

    1. Re:Tracing Of Users? by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 5, Interesting

      How long before this information is used by drug lords for marketing? I wouldn't be surprised if they were interesting in funding further consumer studies.

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
  2. ADD by Upaut · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a couple of friends with a prescription for meth-amphetamines for their ADD, as they are basically immune to all the other drugs that have been tried on them. My girlfriend has a prescription for THC as it is the only mood elevator that can control her bipolar condition. I have overactive production of an enzyme CYP2D6, meaning my medicine cabinet would make a heroin addict drool.

    We all have constant levels in our systems, stable jobs, and interact well in society. Just because someone needs to take these drugs do not mean that we cannot hold a job, or that we are scabs on society... And just because (aside from the THC, which is not addictive) our meds are addictive, does not mean our usage varies, because we take our daily dose as covered by our medical insurance.

    --
    3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin
  3. Re:but..... by martinelli · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, actually. They look for the levels of drug 'remnants' in your urine, not the actual substance.