Traces of illicit drugs found in public air

Ever find yourself strolling a long a city street and just feeling "high on life"? Turns out, you might just have a mild contact buzz. First off, scientists have established that it is possible to detect levels of the active ingredients in cocaine and marijuana in the air sampled from public areas. Secondly, there are significant associations between higher levels of these substances in the air and factors such as the number of drug seizures and the prevalence of certain types of crime in that area. Epidemiologically speaking, this could be a cheap way to determine the amount of drug use in a given area to help target interventions and policing.

Sort of makes me rethink the whole "oxygen bar" fad.

Ed

Ed enjoys all forms of entertainment and has an unnatural love for quantitative methodology. He operates out of a basement in Northern Virginia (@edomaniac).

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