Samples of sewage are telling tales about drug abuse in Lisbon after a study revealed that “significant amounts” of cocaine and nicotine were detected in wastewater.
The study by the Faculty of Pharmacy in the University of Lisbon was based on analyses of sewage samples collected at the Alcântara wastewater treatment plant on two different weekdays over a period of one month in 2011, in order to evaluate patterns of consumption outside weekends.
Researchers concluded that 7,490 doses of “impure cocaine” were consumed on average per day and 252 grams of pure cocaine were detected in just 24 hours.
Álvaro Lopes, coordinator of the study, said the figures would be more alarming had the samples been collected at the weekends.
The wastewater plant in question covers areas such as Bairro Alto, Santos, Cais do Sodré and Docas, known for being popular night-time hotspots.
It was also concluded that an average 7.5 cigarettes were smoked per person per day, when considering that traces of nicotine totalled 5.9 grams per 1,000 inhabitants – each cigarette has on average 0.8 grams of nicotine.
Álvaro Lopes believes the study provides a new method of evaluating patterns of drug consumption. It was concluded, for instance, that there is a significant relationship between nicotine and cocaine consumption that should be further evaluated in future studies. The findings were published in the Science of the Total Environment magazine.
