Sewage drug secrets revealed
The meth-capital Oslo
Police, substance abuse researchers and drug users know that there is a lot of methamphetamine in Oslo.
How much became clear when the results of the research collaboration were ready - the population of Oslo uses 30 times more methamphetamine than that of Stockholm, totaling third highest consumption in Europe (just behind Turku and Helsinki). This knowledge is part of a long series of interesting findings from the research collaboration.
Dr. Thomas believes that the results can tell a lot about how well society handles illegal drugs.
- The new knowledge can tell a lot about how effective our drug policies are. We also make frequent samplings, and in that way we can measure the effect of large customs seizures or police raids.
The study grows
The methods used in the study have also been used in several other European and U.S. cities in 2012. In Norway NIVA researchers will investigate the sewers of the country's largest cities.
- I hope that we also can get several Eastern European countries as members of the project during the winter. Our approach can be used anywhere. With proper funding, we have the potential to know the truth of illicit drug use worldwide, concludes Dr. Thomas.
Ahead of him, NIVA researcher Malcolm Reid has a set of water samples, which are the keys to understanding European illicit drug use.
The water is from the inter-municipal treatment plant VEAS (pictured on the front page), which receives the sewage from a large part of Oslo. Scientists have collected water samples at similar plants in 19 European cities.
Sewage secrets
What we eat, drink, snort, smoke or inject is excreted in feces and urine when we visit the toilet. If you are resident in Oslo the steak you had for dinner or cocaine you had at a party, ends up in the huge sewage pools at a plant like VEAS.
When researchers are looking for evidence of drug use in the sewer it is like trying to find a sugar cube dissolved in an Olympic swimming pool.
This is possible thanks to the unique substances the body excrete in the urine when people consume drugs. Researchers call these substances biomarkers, and like fingerprints they are unique for different substances. The researchers in the project have found biomarkers for cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy, methamphetamine and cannabis.
The habits of millions
Until now, questionnaire-based studies have been the most common way to measure drug consumption. Such studies are conducted among different segments of society, including party goers, drug addicts and the general population. Further information is often retrieved from police and customs, as well as hospitals and other medical data.
NIVA researcher Dr. Kevin Thomas coordinates the project that examines the sewers in 19 major European cities.
- What do you think is the most exciting thing about this project?
- I think it is incredibly powerful that we get an insight into the drug habits of millions of people. There will always be some uncertainty related to the reliability of questionnaire-based studies. Our approach on the other hand yields accurate and reliable data on the total amount of drugs used in a city. When you combine this with questionnaire-based studies you gain a clearer picture of the situation, he says.
Directly comparable data
When 11 different research institutions cooperate, it is important that they work in the same way. Only then can the data be compared. The project's inception was therefore sewage samples from Oslo sent out to the participating research institutes in Europe, for so called inter-calibration.
- All the participants analyzed Oslo-water, in search of the relevant drug biomarkers. The results were compared with the answers we had already worked out, and after helping the participants with adjustments of methods we could be sure that everyone worked in the same way, says Dr. Thomas.
This means that the data from all the European cities tolerate direct comparison, and a previously unknown description of reality emerges from the shadows.
The meth-capital Oslo
Police, substance abuse researchers and drug users know that there is a lot of methamphetamine in Oslo.
How much became clear when the results of the research collaboration were ready - the population of Oslo uses 30 times more methamphetamine than that of Stockholm, totaling third highest consumption in Europe (just behind Turku and Helsinki). This knowledge is part of a long series of interesting findings from the research collaboration.
Dr. Thomas believes that the results can tell a lot about how well society handles illegal drugs.
- The new knowledge can tell a lot about how effective our drug policies are. We also make frequent samplings, and in that way we can measure the effect of large customs seizures or police raids.
The study grows
The methods used in the study have also been used in several other European and U.S. cities in 2012. In Norway NIVA researchers will investigate the sewers of the country's largest cities.
- I hope that we also can get several Eastern European countries as members of the project during the winter. Our approach can be used anywhere. With proper funding, we have the potential to know the truth of illicit drug use worldwide, concludes Dr. Thomas.