
Estimating Community Drug Abuse by Wastewater Analysis - ashitlerferad
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2516581/
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giardini
Every monitoring system eventually is used for social control, despite the
best intentions of the creators. This is as true in the "public" domain as it
is in the private workplace.

In this instance we will soon hear a hue & cry for monitoring of the drug
levels in public waterways and sewers. To ensure no crime goes unpunished,
that will be followed by the creation and use of systems that track drug use
to the individual household (if such systems don't already exist). The
information from such systems will be handed over to law enforcement et al,
who will use it the same way they use all other information from monitoring
devices.

As the ACLU predicted years ago, this information will be shared with 3rd
parties to the degree that, should you order take-out pizza with cheese, you
will receive an e-mail warning from your insurance company that your premium
may increase if you don't control your diet better.

Now, by monitoring your sewer (indeed all your inputs and outputs), your
insurance company (and others) can ensure that you don't make that cheese or
that pizza yourself on the sly. There is no escape.

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msellout
> every monitoring system eventually is used for social control

That statement, even if true, does not specify what time frame "eventually"
is, to what degree the "control" is, or whether the result is a net benefit to
civil liberties. Perhaps the control is in the form of reducing violence,
which increases liberty. There's always a trade-off.

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mrob
This isn't estimating drug abuse, it's estimating drug use. Wastewater
measurements alone are not enough to determine how much of that use is
harmful.

~~~
baldfat
So how much cocaine or heroine is non-harmful? I would even say cannabis is
also shown to be harmful cognitively unless someone stops for 4 weeks but I
digress.

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cname
About cannabis, you would say that based on what?

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baldfat
Multiple of research studies. The long term harm has been ruled out but short
term of days and weeks is shown in multiple of studies in regards to harm to
cognitive and memory.

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antihero
> The social and medical problems of drug abuse are a matter of increasing
> global concern.

 _citation needed_

Frankly I don't think people take enough drugs. We could do with a few more
open minds instead of the horrific mess the squares have got us into.

~~~
irremediable
A citation wouldn't be used for that sentence, by convention, because it's in
the article's abstract, rather than in the article proper.

Moreover, regardless of what _you_ think about drug (ab)use, it _is_ a matter
of increasing global concern. That doesn't imply anything about enforcement,
legalisation, etc; it's just a statement of fact.

~~~
Retric
As far as I can tell it's a matter of decreasing global concern. US pushed a
huge swath of global drug policy, and now that it's backtracking more
reasonable responses are becoming common.

~~~
irremediable
Maybe now, though the article's from 2008 and it's only comparatively recently
in history that the drug war began. I mean, fair point, but it seems we're
just quibbling about a background sentence. Even if it did oversell the
problem/motivation, that's not unheard of in academic papers...

~~~
Retric
It's a minor point, but this trend has been picking up steam for a while. Not
going though the full list, but 2008 was in the middle of this.

Several states had already long allowed medical use by 2008. Maine 1999,
Nevada and Hawaii 2000 etc. But, Massachusetts decriminalized in 2008. 2009
Maine " further decriminalized cannabis when Governor John Baldacci signed
legislation (LD 250) which made possession of 2.5 ounces or less a civil
infraction.[27][28]"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._j...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction)

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chatmasta
This reminds me of the story of the KGB analyzing Chairman Mao's stool samples
from the "private bathroom" they provided when he visited USSR. [0] [1]

[0] [http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/kgb-agent-stalin-
extr...](http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/kgb-agent-stalin-extracted-
and-analyzed-mao-s-excrement-t17511.html)

[1] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
asia-35427926](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35427926)

~~~
woliveirajr
It was said, back in hte 90's, that the Brazilian President (Fernando Collor
de Mello) would have his... dejects... checked, in his first visit to the USA.
There were some rumors, back that time, that he was a cocaine user.

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monk_e_boy
My mate works for a water treatment company, so he's regularly down the sewers
doing stuff. His best ever comment was that he hates it in the rich towns cos
the shit stinks vile. But in the poor towns it smells OK.

I had always thought all shit smells the same.

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Joof
Clearly you don't know shit.

Dietary differences I guess? I'm sure there are scientists, especially in the
wildlife area that specialize in the compounds in feces.

~~~
monk_e_boy
My thought was maybe other things go down the drains that alter the chemistry?
Cheap bleach vs expensive bleach? Hummus? Shampoo? Or maybe just a meat rich
diet vs a more vegetarian diet of the poor folks.

He also said that in the pumping stations there are thousands of frogs and
toads that have fallen into the road side drains and have been swept down the
sewers. They get chewed up in the pumps.

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justsaysmthng
I find it very hard to believe that those excreted drug residues don't react
with detergents, chemicals used for cleaning, oils from foods and all kinds of
other pills, drugs and plants that end up in sewage. Does the study take that
into account ?

Also, it is said that about 80% of dollar bills contain traces of cocaine. So
combine the measurements of drugs on money and of drugs in shit and you end up
with an interesting picture of society..

~~~
danieltiIlett
If it's made it through your body, it's likely to make it through the sewer...
Not a lot of really reactive stuff there (cleaners/oils/detergents dissolve,
not degrade), anything super reactive (e.g. bleach) exhausts itself chewing on
poop. Microbial degradation is a thing, but it's not very different from human
degradation so anything that's already been excreted is probably pretty
stable.

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tfg4k
Any ideas on making a visualization?

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wiredfool
(2008)

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disposeofnick9
Yup, already saw this ages ago. Very old news.

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eggman
can we get a map of caffeine intake by region.

