Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, 71, Chou-Shan Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan.
Department of Occupational Safety and Health, China Medical University, Taichung 406040, Taiwan.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jul 15;934:173313. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173313. Epub 2024 May 16.
Taiwan, identified as pivotal in the Asian drug trafficking chain, has been experiencing a surge in illicit drug-related issues. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a promising approach for comprehensive evaluation of actual illicit drug usage. This study presents the first WBE investigation of illicit drug consumption in Taiwan based on the analysis of wastewater from four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Taipei metropolitan area. Additionally, it demonstrates a high correlation between the amounts of illicit drugs seized and influent concentrations over an extended period of time. The reliability of solid-phase extraction and analysis via high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was validated for 16 illicit drugs (methamphetamine, ketamine, cocaine, codeine, methadone, morphine, meperidine, fentanyl, sufentanil, para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA), para-methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), cathinone, methcathinone, mephedrone (MEPH), and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC)). Methamphetamine, ketamine, and 4-MEC were consistently detected in all wastewater samples, underscoring their prevalence in the Taipei metropolitan area. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonia nitrogen (ammonia N) were employed to reduce uncertainty in estimations of population size during back-calculation of illicit drug consumption. The results indicate that methamphetamine was the most consumed drug (175-740 mg day 1000 people), followed by ketamine (22-280 mg day 1000 people). In addition, urban-related WWTPs exhibited higher consumption of methamphetamine and ketamine than did the suburban-related WWTP, indicating distinct illicit drug usage patterns between suburban and urban regions. Moreover, an examination of temporal trends in wastewater from the Dihua WWTP revealed a persistent predominance of ketamine and methamphetamine, consistent with statistical data pertaining to seizure quantities and urine test results. The study provides encouraging insight into spatial and temporal variations in illicit drug usage in the Taipei metropolitan area, emphasizing the complementary role of WBE in understanding trends in illicit drug abuse.
台湾作为亚洲毒品贩运链中的关键一环，其非法毒品问题日益严重。基于废水的流行病学（WBE）已成为全面评估实际非法毒品使用情况的有前途的方法。本研究基于对台北都会区四个污水处理厂（WWTP）的废水进行分析，首次对台湾的非法药物消费进行了 WBE 调查。此外，它还证明了在较长时间内，缉获的非法药物数量与进水浓度之间存在高度相关性。通过固相萃取和高效液相色谱-串联质谱（HPLC-MS/MS）分析对 16 种非法药物（甲基苯丙胺、氯胺酮、可卡因、可待因、美沙酮、吗啡、哌替啶、芬太尼、舒芬太尼、对甲氧基苯丙胺（PMA）、对甲氧基苯丙胺（PMMA）、3,4-亚甲基二氧基甲基苯丙胺（MDMA）、卡他酮、甲卡西酮、美沙酮（MEPH）和 4-甲基乙基卡他酮（4-MEC））的可靠性进行了验证。所有废水样本中均检测到甲基苯丙胺、氯胺酮和 4-MEC，这表明它们在台北都会区的流行程度。生化需氧量（BOD）和氨氮（氨氮）用于减少在反推非法药物消费时对人口规模估计的不确定性。结果表明，甲基苯丙胺是消耗量最大的药物（175-740mg 人天），其次是氯胺酮（22-280mg 人天）。此外，与城市相关的 WWTP 比与郊区相关的 WWTP 消耗更多的甲基苯丙胺和氯胺酮，表明郊区和城市地区之间存在明显不同的非法药物使用模式。此外，对 Dihua WWTP 废水的时间趋势进行检查发现，氯胺酮和甲基苯丙胺一直占主导地位，这与缉获量和尿液测试结果的统计数据一致。该研究提供了对台北都会区非法药物使用的时空变化的有价值见解，强调了 WBE 在了解非法药物滥用趋势方面的补充作用。
