Law enforcement scientists try their best to see the impact of drugs on our environments by measuring “drug metabolites” in our dumping water. Recently, scientists have decided to go a step further by measuring the drugs in the air at areas in Italy that monitor the quality of air. Through this, they hoped to get an insight on the used of cigarettes, methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine, weed and heroin.
According to the studies, the most common illegal substance in the air was THC as well as other byproducts of cannabis. More THC was found indoor than outdoor, and much more of the other marijuana byproducts were found in the air during the winter (1.3 -21 ng/m3) than in the summer (0.09 -0.25 ng/m3). Indoor air also tended to have much more concentrations of caffeine and cigarettes. In Europe, cocaine was the second highest substance found in the air next to THC, but in South America, more cocaine was in the air than THC.
The other drugs – methamphetamine, ketamine and heroin – were relatively rare in the air in both areas, however, nightclubs were often found with higher amounts of ketamine and methamphetamine; this was not entirely surprising, since consumption of these drugs is common at nightclubs. In addition to these findings, Cocaine and THC levels in the air rose during the weekend while methamphetamine typically stayed the same.
However, despite these findings, higher levels of THC in the air may not necessarily be due to people consuming more; there were relationships found between the amount of THC in the air and other physical factors such as humidity, temperatures and wind speeds. Measuring illicit drugs in the atmosphere may have interesting results, but it’s not as good as measuring the amount of “drug metabolites” in water that goes wasted. What this means is that we are not very negatively affected by these results.
MAPH Enterprises, LLC | (305) 414-0128 | 1501 Venera Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146 | new@marijuanastocks.com
