title: Reflection of Socioeconomic Changes in Wastewater: Licit and Illicit Drug Use Patterns.
abstract: The economic crisis plaguing Greece was expected to impact consumption of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs - a priori to an unknown extent. We quantified the change of use for various classes of licit and illicit drugs by monitoring Athens' wastewater from 2010 to 2014. A high increase in the use of psychoactive drugs was detected between 2010 and 2014, especially for antipsychotics (35-fold), benzodiazepines (19-fold), and antidepressants (11-fold). This directly reflects the perceived increase of incidences associated with mental illnesses in the population, as a consequence of severe socioeconomic changes. Other therapeutic classes, like antiepileptics, hypertensives, and gastric and ulcer drugs also showed an increase in use (from 2-fold increase for antiepileptics to 13-fold for hypertensives). In contrast, the overall use of antibiotics and NSAIDs decreased. For mefenamic acid, an almost 28-fold decrease was observed. This finding is likely related to the reduction in drug expenditure applied in public health. A 2-fold increase of methamphetamine use was detected, associated with a cheap street drug called ″sisa″ (related to marginal conducts), which is a health concern. MDMA (5-fold) and methadone (7-fold) use showed also an increase, while cocaine and cannabis estimates did not show a clear trend.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Thomaidis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gago-Ferrero
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 133, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ort
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Niki C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Maragou
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikiforos A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Alygizakis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Viola L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Borova
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Marilena E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dasenaki
mesh_terms: D003042:Cocaine; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008694:Methamphetamine; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D062065:Wastewater
chemical_list: D003042:Cocaine; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008694:Methamphetamine; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D062065:Wastewater