A study by the Center for Research on Desertification (CIDE) has determined that cannabis, cocaine and tobacco were the most consumed drugs from 2011 to 2020 in the city of Valencia thanks to an analysis of its wastewater.
These are the results of the analysis of this mixed center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the University of Valencia and the Generalitat, which concludes that these were the most consumed drugs, especially during weekends and on festive periods, in accordance with the estimates of the European Union.
The work, recently published in the journal Water Research, highlights the efficiency of this epidemiological technique used by CIDE’s Food and Environmental Safety Research Group (SAMA-UV).
To do this, the wastewater from three purification plants in Valencia was analyzed and a total of 16 psychoactive substances (legal or illegal) were detected, eight of which received continuous monitoring, through chromatographic and mass spectrometry studies.
The results show that cannabis, tobacco and cocaine were the most consumed drugs, with an average per 1,000 inhabitants of 9.9 grams per day for cannabis, 1.7 for cocaine and 1.5 for nicotine.
The study also shows an upward trend in the consumption of the three substances as of 2018, as well as opiates such as codeine (0.5 g/day), hallucinogens such as bufotenine (0.2 g/day) or stimulants such as ecstasy (MDMA 42 mg/day), amphetamines (36 mg/day) and methamphetamines (20 mg/day) stand out next.
For their part, heroin, ketamine or methadone were shown to be drugs of lesser consumption in Valencia during the study period, during which the samples for analysis were obtained both in the form of pure substances and their metabolites.
“These data are similar to those found in other Spanish cities and are in accordance with the estimates made by the European Center for Drug Monitoring and Drug Addiction for the EU”, said the engineer, first author of this article and researcher of the SAMA-UV Group at CIDE, Julián Campo.
The results of this analysis show that, in addition to cocaine, cannabis is among the most frequently detected illicit drugs in wastewater samples, a fact that is consistent with different studies carried out for similar periods in 26 countries of the Union.
In addition, the stabilized consumption of methamphetamine is reflected, reduced for amphetamine and on the rise for ecstasy, and it is stated that during weekends and local festivals, mainly Fallas, a higher frequency of consumption of psychotropic substances was observed compared to with weekdays.
“Similar results have been recorded in different festivals, events or holiday periods in different cities around the world, which confirms the recreational use of some of these substances”, has pointed out the professor of Nutrition and Bromatology at the University of Valencia and head of the group SAMA-UV, Yolanda Picó.
