Illicit drugs in Canadian municipal wastewater and estimates of community drug use.
In this study of wastewater treatment plants in three Canadian cities, selected illicit drugs, including cocaine and its major metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BE), amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy (i.e. MDMA) were detected in untreated wastewater. Cocaine was the most widely used illicit drug at a median level for the 3 cities of 15.7 doses per day per 1000 people. For the other drugs, the median doses per day per 1000 people were 1.8 for amphetamine, 4.5 for methamphetamine and 0.4 for ecstasy. Methamphetamine use was highest in the largest city and cocaine use was lowest in the smallest city. Removal of the illicit drugs by wastewater treatment was generally >50%, except in a WWTP that uses primary treatment. The community consumption estimate for ecstasy in the present study is far below published estimates of the prevalence of ecstasy use among the Canadian population, which may be due to only occasional use of ecstasy.
Metcalfe
Chris
C
Worsfold Water Quality Centre, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada. cmetcalfe@trentu.ca
Tindale
Kathryn
K
Li
Hongxia
H
Rodayan
Angela
A
Yargeau
Viviane
V
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000032:analysis; D002170:Canada; D002947:Cities; D003042:Cocaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000032:analysis; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D013287:Illicit Drugs; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008694:Methamphetamine; C005618:benzoylecgonine; D000661:Amphetamine; D003042:Cocaine; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine