Media: Spanish cities top league for cocaine-laced air
Air pollution has long been a fact of life in Spanish cities. But scientists now say it is not just smog that fills people’s lungs 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 large amounts of drugs - most prominently cocaine.
Other illegal substances found were amphetamines, heroin, cannabis and LSD. Government experts from the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations said the levels were far higher than elsewhere in Europe. Researchers found cocaine in concentrations of up to 850 picograms per cubic metre of air. A similar study in Italy found a maximum concentration of only 100 picograms per cubic metre in Rome.
This may be because Spain is the continent’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 group said the study showed higher concentrations of the components on weekends, suggesting that drug consumption was up in these periods. The scientists detected drug by placing quartz microfiber filters in the air-testing stations.
But 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. She stressed that ‘in no case should these levels be considered representative of the air in the two cities’ and that 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. (Daily Mail)
This may be because Spain is the continent’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 group said the study showed higher concentrations of the components on weekends, suggesting that drug consumption was up in these periods. The scientists detected drug by placing quartz microfiber filters in the air-testing stations.
But 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. She stressed that ‘in no case should these levels be considered representative of the air in the two cities’ and that 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. (Daily Mail)
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