Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pusan National University Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
The National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), The University of Queensland, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, Queensland 4108, Australia.
Sci Total Environ. 2015 Aug 15;524-525:440-6. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.065. Epub 2015 Apr 29.
Illicit drug consumption in five cities in South Korea was estimated by analyzing 17 drug residues in untreated wastewater samples collected during the Christmas and New Year period of 2012-13. Only methamphetamine, amphetamine, and codeine were detected at concentrations of tens of nanograms per liter or even lower concentrations in more than 90% of the samples. Other illicit drug residues (including cocaine, methadone, and benzoylecgonine) that have been detected frequently in wastewater from other countries were not found in this study. Methamphetamine was found to be the most widely used illicit drug in South Korea, and the estimated average consumption rate was 22 mg d(-1) (1000 people)(-1). This rate is, for example, 2-5 times lower than the estimated average consumption rates in Hong Kong and other parts of China and 4-80 times lower than the estimated average consumption rates in cities in Western countries. It should be noted that the wastewater samples analyzed in this study were collected during a holiday season, when daily consumption of illicit drugs is often higher than on an average day. The methamphetamine usage rates were calculated for different cities in South Korea, and the usage rates in smaller cities was higher (2-4 times) than the average.
本研究采用分析未经处理的污水样本中 17 种药物残留的方法，估算了韩国 5 个城市的非法药物消费情况。在超过 90%的样本中，药物浓度仅为每升数十纳克甚至更低，检测到的非法药物残留（包括可卡因、美沙酮和苯甲酰爱康宁）与其他国家污水中经常检测到的药物残留不同。本研究未发现其他非法药物残留。在韩国，被检测到的最广泛使用的非法药物是甲基苯丙胺，估计平均使用率为 22 毫克/天/1000 人。例如，这一比率比中国香港和其他地区的估计平均使用率低 2-5 倍，比西方国家城市的估计平均使用率低 4-80 倍。需要注意的是，本研究分析的污水样本是在节假日期间采集的，此时非法药物的日消耗量通常高于平均水平。本研究还计算了韩国不同城市的甲基苯丙胺使用率，发现小城市的使用率（高 2-4 倍）高于平均值。
