Wastewater from many European cities has been analyzed to assess drug use. The city of Antwerp tops the ranking.
Following the publication of the annual report of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), a new study analyzes the drug consumption of inhabitants of the European Union. Written by a group of European researchers, it focuses on wastewater from 42 cities in 21 different countries. For an entire week in 2011, 2012 and 2013, samples were collected from participating cities. In addition to the EMCDDA’s analyzes, this practice, developed in 2008, sheds additional light on the habits of Europeans. The results are published in the scientific journal Addiction.
Antwerp, champion of drugs …
In view of the results of the study, it is the city of Antwerp in Belgium which wins this sad prize ahead of Amsterdam. Among the substances found in large quantities, benzoylecgonine, one of the main components of cocaine, is included in the list. The rate collected reaches 837 mg of cocaine per day per thousands of people. The level is extremely high compared to the previous record set by the City of London (711 mg). Other cities stand out like Amsterdam with 393 mg or Zurich with 679 mg.
The analyzes also show that the inhabitants of Antwerp are also the greatest consumers of amphetamine out of the 41 other cities participating in the study. The researchers found about 185 mg of amphetamines in the wastewater. The Belgian city is placed in front of Gothenburg in Sweden, Dortmund and Amsterdam.
Consumption varies depending on the day of the week
This analysis of wastewater also makes it possible to monitor drug use on a day-by-day basis. Researchers found that the concentration of ecstasy and MDMA in wastewater peaked over the weekend. The result seems logical, ecstasy being a drug associated with the world of the night and the party. The peak is observed mainly on Saturday evening. EAWAG, the Swiss Water Institute, has proposed a diagram showing the evolution of the consumption of esctasy during the week.
Source: EAWAG
Conversely, the researchers did not observe such a difference, between weekdays and weekends, for cocaine. It seems that it is snorted every day in European cities.
Parisians love cannabis
Large amounts of THC have been spotted in the wastewater of the city of Paris. With a rate of around 130mg per day, the City of Lights is in third place behind Novi Sad in Serbia and Amsterdam where cannabis use is legal. These figures confirm the results of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, which placed the French in second place in the ranking of the heaviest cannabis users in Europe.
In the absence of results for Swiss cities, the third place of Paris may be exaggerated. Indeed, Switzerland is known to be one of the hotspots for cannabis consumption in Europe.
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