“She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie... #Cocaine”
Cocaine: ChEBI Entity of the Month 26 August 2009.
The notion of us all carrying cocaine (ChEBI:27958) in our wallets, purses or packets may not be as outrageous or unlikely as we might think! In what researchers describe as the largest, most comprehensive analysis to date of cocaine contamination in banknotes, scientists are reporting that 95% of dollar bills in Washington DC bear traces of the illegal drug cocaine, with high levels also oberved in other big cities, such as Baltimore, Boston and Detroit [1]. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth tested notes from more than 30 cities from five countries (United States, Canada, Brazil, China and Japan). "To my surprise, we're finding more and more cocaine in banknotes," said lead researcher Yuegang Zuo. He suggested the rise may be due to the economic downturn, "with stressed people turning to cocaine". The U.S. and Canada were found to have the highest levels, with an average contamination rate of between 85 and 90 percent, while China and Japan had the lowest, between 12 and 20 percent contamination [1]. In the U.S. the cleanest bills were collected from Salt Lake City, home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, better known as the Mormons [1].Scientists have known for years that paper money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals and directly via snorting cocaine through rolled bills. Large-scale contamination is thought to take place when the notes are stacked together in currency-counting machines. In the new study, Zuo and colleagues used a modified form of a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for their measurements [2]. This allowed a faster, simpler and more accurate measurement of cocaine contamination than other methods, without destroying the currency. Amounts found in the 234 U.S. banknotes analysed ranged from .006 micrograms (thousands of times smaller than a single grain of sand) to over 1,240 micrograms of cocaine, or the equivalent of about 50 grains of sand, per bill. Zuo downplayed any health or legal concerns linked to the handling of contaminated notes. "For the most part, you can't get high by sniffing a regular banknote, unless it was used directly in drug uptake or during a drug exchange", Zuo said. "It also won't affect your health and is unlikely to interfere with blood and urine tests used for drug detection". The study, Zuo said, could help increase public awareness of cocaine use and help curb its abuse by assisting law enforcement agencies and forensic specialists to identify how the drug is used in a given community.
www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/entityMonthForward.do
References
[1] U.S. banknotes show cocaine traces. news.bbc.co.uk. 17 August 2009.
[2] Zuo Y,, Kai Zhang K., Wu J., Rego C. and Fritz J. (2008) An accurate and non-destructive GC method for determination of cocaine on U.S. paper currency. J. Separation Sci. 31, 2444–2450. pubmed.gov/18646272
“She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie... #Cocaine”
Cocaine: ChEBI Entity of the Month 26 August 2009.
The notion of us all carrying cocaine (ChEBI:27958) in our wallets, purses or packets may not be as outrageous or unlikely as we might think! In what researchers describe as the largest, most comprehensive analysis to date of cocaine contamination in banknotes, scientists are reporting that 95% of dollar bills in Washington DC bear traces of the illegal drug cocaine, with high levels also oberved in other big cities, such as Baltimore, Boston and Detroit [1]. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth tested notes from more than 30 cities from five countries (United States, Canada, Brazil, China and Japan). "To my surprise, we're finding more and more cocaine in banknotes," said lead researcher Yuegang Zuo. He suggested the rise may be due to the economic downturn, "with stressed people turning to cocaine". The U.S. and Canada were found to have the highest levels, with an average contamination rate of between 85 and 90 percent, while China and Japan had the lowest, between 12 and 20 percent contamination [1]. In the U.S. the cleanest bills were collected from Salt Lake City, home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, better known as the Mormons [1].Scientists have known for years that paper money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals and directly via snorting cocaine through rolled bills. Large-scale contamination is thought to take place when the notes are stacked together in currency-counting machines. In the new study, Zuo and colleagues used a modified form of a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for their measurements [2]. This allowed a faster, simpler and more accurate measurement of cocaine contamination than other methods, without destroying the currency. Amounts found in the 234 U.S. banknotes analysed ranged from .006 micrograms (thousands of times smaller than a single grain of sand) to over 1,240 micrograms of cocaine, or the equivalent of about 50 grains of sand, per bill. Zuo downplayed any health or legal concerns linked to the handling of contaminated notes. "For the most part, you can't get high by sniffing a regular banknote, unless it was used directly in drug uptake or during a drug exchange", Zuo said. "It also won't affect your health and is unlikely to interfere with blood and urine tests used for drug detection". The study, Zuo said, could help increase public awareness of cocaine use and help curb its abuse by assisting law enforcement agencies and forensic specialists to identify how the drug is used in a given community.
www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/entityMonthForward.do
References
[1] U.S. banknotes show cocaine traces. news.bbc.co.uk. 17 August 2009.
[2] Zuo Y,, Kai Zhang K., Wu J., Rego C. and Fritz J. (2008) An accurate and non-destructive GC method for determination of cocaine on U.S. paper currency. J. Separation Sci. 31, 2444–2450. pubmed.gov/18646272