"Scientists Drug-Test Whole Cities"

[kstar]

Check this out:

Scientists Drug-Test Whole Cities
By SETH BORENSTEIN
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Researchers have figured out how to give an entire community a drug test using just a teaspoon of wastewater from a city's sewer plant.

The test wouldn't be used to finger any single person as a drug user. But it would help federal law enforcement and other agencies track the spread of dangerous drugs, like methamphetamines, across the country.

Oregon State University scientists tested 10 unnamed American cities for remnants of drugs, both legal and illegal, from wastewater streams. They were able to show that they could get a good snapshot of what people are taking.

"It's a community urinalysis," said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington drug abuse researcher who was part of the Oregon State team. The scientists presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

Two federal agencies have taken samples from U.S. waterways to see if drug testing a whole city is doable, but they haven't gotten as far as the Oregon researchers.

One of the early results of the new study showed big differences in methamphetamine use city to city. One urban area with a gambling industry had meth levels more than five times higher than other cities. Yet methamphetamine levels were virtually nonexistent in some smaller Midwestern locales, said Jennifer Field, the lead researcher and a professor of environmental toxicology at Oregon State.

The ingredient Americans consume and excrete the most was caffeine, Field said.

Cities in the experiment ranged from 17,000 to 600,000 in population, but Field declined to identify them, saying that could harm her relationship with the sewage plant operators.

She plans to start a survey for drugs in the wastewater of at least 40 Oregon communities.

The science behind the testing is simple. Nearly every drug _ legal and illicit _ that people take leaves the body. That waste goes into toilets and then into wastewater treatment plants.

"Wastewater facilities are wonderful places to understand what humans consume and excrete," Field said.

In the study presented Tuesday, one teaspoon of untreated sewage water from each of the cities was tested for 15 different drugs. Field said researchers can't calculate how many people in a town are using drugs.

She said that one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week.

Field said her study suggests that a key tool currently used by drug abuse researchers _ self-reported drug questionnaires _ underestimates drug use.

"We have so few indicators of current use," said Jane Maxwell of the Addiction Research Institute at the University of Texas, who wasn't part of the study. "This could be a very interesting new indicator."

David Murray, chief scientist for U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the idea interests his agency.

Murray said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing federal wastewater samples just to see if that's a good method for monitoring drug use. But he didn't know how many tests were conducted or where.

The EPA will "flush out the details" on testing, Benjamin Grumbles joked. The EPA assistant administrator said the agency is already looking at the problem of potential harm to rivers and lakes from legal pharmaceuticals.

The idea of testing on a citywide basis for drugs makes sense, as long as it doesn't violate people's privacy, said Tom Angell of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington-based group that wants looser drug laws.

"This seems to be less offensive than individualized testing," he said.



Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.





source: http://www.townhall.com/news/sci-tech/2007/08/21/scientists_drug-test_whole_cities

[Joeaksa]

Wonderful, just frigging wonderful. Now eventually some control freak idiot will suggest implanting a sensor in the sewer at every house's input pipe to run tests on the whole house for any substance.

"Mr. XYZ,

Readings from your Govt sponsored waste water discharge system show that someone at your residence consumed far too much Jack Daniels, Budweiser and Goldschlagerover the last weekend. We are therefore limiting your ability to purchase these items in the next 3 months to insure that you are able to be a productive citizen at your job as a greeter at Wal-Mart.

As well your 14 year old daughter is pregnant, and your wife has the clap. Not that its any of our business, but does the pool boy really need to show up at your house 10 minutes after you leave for work, every day for the past two months? The toilet in your master bathroom flushes approx 30 minutes later and strains of semen that are not DNA matched to your family have been found in the discharge sensor.

We at your local discharge monitoring office hope that you will correct these issues immediately."

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Wonderful, just frigging wonderful. Now eventually some control freak idiot will suggest implanting a sensor in the sewer at every house's input pipe to run tests on the whole house for any substance.

"Mr. XYZ,

Readings from your Govt sponsored waste water discharge system show that someone at your residence consumed far too much Jack Daniels, Budweiser and Goldschlagerover the last weekend. We are therefore limiting your ability to purchase these items in the next 3 months to insure that you are able to be a productive citizen at your job as a greeter at Wal-Mart.

As well your 14 year old daughter is pregnant, and your wife has the clap. Not that its any of our business, but does the pool boy really need to show up at your house 10 minutes after you leave for work, every day for the past two months? The toilet in your master bathroom flushes approx 30 minutes later and strains of semen that are not DNA matched to your family have been found in the discharge sensor.

We at your local discharge monitoring office hope that you will correct these issues immediately."

LMAO

[frogger]

It's the government's new War on Urine.

[azasadny]

Will the insurance companies use the results of these tests to raise rates for certain areas?

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by azasadny

Will the insurance companies use the results of these tests to raise rates for certain areas?

Right after they raise rates or refuse to insure people using DNA to test for possible illnesses for clients.

They are out to make money, not care for people!

[Mo_Gearhead]

Ok, here's the plan. EVERYONE, precisely at 7:15 AM, EVERY SUNDAY, flushes a pint of Clorox bleach down their toilet! Let them try and figure that out!

[svandamme]

they've been doing that for years already in some places in Europe
apparently there's loads of cocaine in Rome

they simply use it to determine if the use of certain drugs in certain towns increases or decreases, for combining with other stats, like if busts are up, do trace amounts go down(not), if cops spend more on anti drug campains, also used to determine if say coke is loosing ground to heroine, or xtc, gives them a picture of what drugs are popular

[Jeff Higgins]

I do actually see the potential for some good to come out of this. Maybe, just maybe, it will show that drug "abuse" is far more prevelant than anyone wants to admit. That would bring us to a crossroads; more enforcement, or acknowledgement that "use" may not necessarily equal "abuse". So maybe, just maybe, instead of continuing to ruin more lives with our draconian drug laws than are actually ruined by the drugs, we will have to look at different approaches. Like legalization and treatment.

Kind of doubt it though. I'm sure this information will be used by those profiting so greatly from the money spent in the "war on (some) drugs" to demand that even more be spent. Another opportunity to fleece the public through unfounded fear and apprehension. "This is more widespread than we thought. Nothing several billion more in additional funding won't cure, though."

The public has to start asking who is getting all of that money. Maybe they will finally go too far in their zeal to profit from this information, and the public will start asking. And start asking why we have seen no results. It's like the old "cold war", folks - if "we" ever "win", some one stops making a *****load of money. If we throw in the towel, some one stops making a *****load of money. We have to keep fighting and barely "winning" (but not too much) for this whole plan to work, and for the money to keep flowing.

[cashflyer]

I live in a rural area. What are they gonna do... test my trees?

[legion]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

The public has to start asking who is getting all of that money. Maybe they will finally go too far in their zeal to profit from this information, and the public will start asking. And start asking why we have seen no results. It's like the old "cold war", folks - if "we" ever "win", some one stops making a *****load of money. If we throw in the towel, some one stops making a *****load of money. We have to keep fighting and barely "winning" (but not too much) for this whole plan to work, and for the money to keep flowing.

Most people don't realize that DARE is a for-profit corporation started by an ex-cop who is now a multi-millionaire. They assume it is some sort of government program.