Zuccato Ettore, Chiabrando Chiara, Castiglioni Sara, Calamari Davide, Bagnati Renzo, Schiarea Silvia, Fanelli Roberto
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Via Eritrea 62, 20157 Milan, Italy.
Environ Health. 2005 Aug 5;4:14. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-4-14.
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.
全球一些城市地区可卡因的使用似乎呈上升趋势，但要确定这一现象的实际程度并非易事。目前，药物滥用趋势主要通过大规模社会、医疗和犯罪统计数据间接估算，这些数据可能存在偏差或过于笼统。因此，我们测试了一种基于普通人群可卡因使用“实地”证据的更直接方法。
通过质谱法测量从意大利中型城市的波河和城市污水处理厂采集的水样中的可卡因及其主要尿液代谢物（苯甲酰爱康宁，BE）。利用每个地点的药物浓度、水流速度和人口数量来估算当地的可卡因消费量。
我们发现，在人口密集地区的地表水中存在可卡因和BE，且可进行测量。意大利最大的河流波河，其流域人口达500万，每天稳定携带约4千克可卡因。这意味着每1000名年轻人平均每天至少使用27±5剂（每剂100毫克），这一估计大大超过了官方公布的全国数据。来自意大利中型城市污水处理厂的数据与这一数字相符。
本文首次表明，一种非法药物可卡因存在于水生环境中，即未经处理的城市废水和一条主要河流中。我们利用环境中可卡因的含量来估算该药物的总体消费量，这种方法具有独特的潜在能力，可实时监测当地药物滥用趋势，同时保护个人隐私。这里测试的方法——原则上可扩展到其他滥用药物——可能会进一步完善，成为监测药物滥用的标准化、客观工具。
