First evaluation of illicit and licit drug consumption based on wastewater analysis in Fort de France urban area (Martinique, Caribbean), a transit area for drug smuggling.

Drugs of abuse are increasingly consumed worldwide. Such consumption could be back-calculated based on wastewater content. The West Indies, with its coca production and its thriving illicit drug market, is both a hub of world cocaine trafficking and a place where its consumption is prevalent particularly in the form of crack. The present study will firstly investigate Caribbean consumption by a daily 5 to 7 day sampling campaign of composite wastewater samples from the four wastewater treatment plants of the Martinique capital, including working and non-working periods. The local consumption of cocaine is ten to thirty times higher than OECD standards because of the prevalence of crack. The excretion coefficient for crack consumption and the impact of temperature on drug stability need further investigation. However, the low diversity of illicit drugs consumed and the crack prevalence suggest practices driven by the transiting of drugs for international trafficking.