Drugs of abuse in airborne particulates in urban environments

Abstract

The presence of cocaine, heroin, cannabinoids and amphetamines, among other previous termdrugsnext term of previous termabusenext term, was detected in previous termairbornenext term particulates in urban environments in Spain. The levels of these compounds were determined at air quality monitoring sites by the application of a novel and specifically targeted analytical methodology, by which mean daily concentrations of cocaine (204–480 pg/m3, up to one order of magnitude higher than in Italy and Portugal), cannabinoids (THC, 27–44 pg/m3), amphetamine (1.4–2.3 pg/m3) and heroin (9–143 pg/m3) were determined in the atmosphere. Results allowed detecting common temporal consumption patterns between cocaine and cannabis (with week-end maxima), but markedly distinct consumer groups. Personal exposure to the levels of all the previous termdrugsnext term detected may be considered negligible, posing no harm for human health. Given the worldwide scarcity of data on previous termdrugnext term levels in atmospheric particulates, we present this methodology as a fast, economic and reliable tool to obtain high quality data for the monitoring of previous termdrugnext termprevious termabusenext term and previous termdrugnext term dealing in cities. Applications include the detection of changes in previous termdrugnext term consumption trends, the mapping of previous termdrugnext term consumption and/or dealing areas in cities, and the identification of new emerging previous termdrugsnext term.