Abstract
Introduction and Aims: Wastewater analysis is a new approach developed to estimate illicit drug (ID) consumption in large communities, such as a city. We tested the ability of this approach to detect differences in consumption in different districts of a city. Design and Methods: Consumption of cocaine, heroin, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (cannabis active principle), amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy was estimated by analysis of selected drug excretion residues in composite 24h samples of untreated urban wastewater by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Samples were collected from the inlet of the three main Milan wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), each serving a district of the city (west, center and east). In each WWTP, samples were taken daily for seven consecutive days in November 2010 and March 2011. Results: We observed significant differences of ID consumption (expressed as mg/day/1000 inhabitants) among districts: consumption of some ID was significantly higher in the eastern district (P
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 128-132 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Drug and Alcohol Review |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Consumption
- Illicit drug
- Italy
- Tandem mass spectrometry
- Wastewater
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Health(social science)