Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered patterns of illegal drug use using samples from untreated waste water.

Their findings, collected from samples throughout Oregon, show how drug excretion from the water ways can be used to understand drug-use patterns. Many water treatment facilities in the state volunteered to aid in the study to further develop this form of methodology.

The team of researchers – including OSU, as well as University of Washington, and McGill University, collected samples from 96 municipalities across Oregon. They tested them for evidence of drugs, among them cocaine and ecstasy.

These 96 municipalities represent approximately 65% of Oregon’s population; within the samples they discovered index loads of  benzoylecgonine (BZE, a cocaine metabolite) were significantly higher in urban levels,  methamphetamine was present in all areas, and MDMA (ecstasy) was higher in urban areas, although less than half of the communities qualified.

Because current measures of drug testing are limited from costs and methodological issues, the researchers believe this measure may provide some open doors towards measuring community drug use.  Public health officials could use this form of testing to identify patterns of drug abuse within multiple municipalities.

The study was published last week in the journal Addiction, although because of the team’s look at a single sample, more testing would be completed before ensuring its validity of an accurate testing process. They do strongly feel, however, the potential dramatic improvement in testing possibilities.

Source: Oregon State University

Image courtesy of oregon.gov

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