Pubdate: Thu, 14 May 2009
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2009 The Charlotte Observer
Contact: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/contact/#editor
Website: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Ciaran Giles, Associated Press Writer

SPANISH STUDY SHOWS COCAINE IN THE AIR IN 2 CITIES

MADRID - Air pollution has long been a fact of life in Spanish cities,
but scientists now say it is not just smog that chokes people as they
walk to work or stroll through the park. A new study has found the air
in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs - most
prominently cocaine. The Superior Council of Scientific
Investigations, a government scientific institute, said on its Web
site Thursday that in addition to cocaine, they found trace amounts of
amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid -a relative of
LSD - in two air-quality control stations, one in each city. The group
said the findings would be published in the U.S. journal Analytical
Chemistry.

Despite the findings, the council said there was no reason for alarm.
"Not even if we lived for a thousand years would we consume the
equivalent of a dose of cocaine by breathing this air," scientist
Miren Lopez de Alda said in a statement.

The scientific group stressed that "in no case should these levels be
considered representative of the air in the two cities." It said the
tests were done in areas where drugs were likely to be consumed. In
Madrid, the test site was close to a ruined building believed to be
frequented by drug dealers.

And in both Madrid and Barcelona, the studies were carried out close
to universities.

The group said the study showed higher concentrations of the
components on weekends, suggesting that drug consumption was up in
these periods. The research found cocaine in concentrations ranging
between 29 and 850 picograms per cubic meter of air. A picogram is
one-trillionth of a gram. Mar Viana, another researcher who worked on
the project, said the levels were far higher than those found in
similar studies in Europe. A similar study in Italy found traces of
cocaine and cannabis in the air in Rome and Taranto in the south.

Italy's National Research Council reported in May 2007 that the
maximum concentration of cocaine in Rome was 100 picograms per cubic
meter of air - it said that was a fifth the legal limit for toxic
substances in air - but that even this small amount was reason for
concern. According to the U.S. State Department, Spain is Europe's
largest consumer of cocaine and hashish.

It is also a major transit point for narcotics shipments from South
and Central America as well as Africa. The scientists detected the
drug by placing quartz microfiber filters in the air-testing stations.

They said the method was new and could help in measuring drug use in
towns and cities in a fast and anonymous way.
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