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Scientists drug-test whole cities

This is obviously a welcome use of technology. Instead of relying on the questionnaires handed out in schools, churches, on street corners, or wherever else researchers go to get raw data, now they can get the straight poop...right from the raw sewerage.

Yes, everything that goes in must eventually work it's way back to the sewerage system (at least in well-developed metro areas) and that stuff isn't going to complain if tests are taken.

One of the early results of the new study showed big differences in methamphetamine use city to city. One urban area with a gambling industry had meth levels more than five times higher than other cities. Yet methamphetamine levels were virtually nonexistent in some smaller Midwestern locales, said Jennifer Field, the lead researcher and a professor of environmental toxicology at Oregon State.

Yes, Las Vegas (or is it Reno?) would have quite a bit of meth, given the city runs 24/7. That's the impetus for nonstop gambling (and for the workers who have to pull those hours...I wonder if most of the Meth in Vegas is local, and not tourist-guest users?)

Avoiding the Testing?

At least the ACLU can't complain. ("Uh, I represent that turd right there, and you can't be violating it's civil rights, because, well, he's underprivileged and came from a non-Charmin background!") Think I'm kidding? Hmmmph...

The idea of testing on a citywide basis for drugs makes sense, as long as it doesn't violate people's privacy, said Tom Angell of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington-based group that wants looser drug laws.

"This seems to be less offensive than individualized testing," he said.

Offensive...you mean using the drugs, or getting caught using the drugs, Tom?

From the article:

Field said researchers can't calculate how many people in a town are using drugs.

She said that one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week.

But the favorite drug used by 'Merrycans everyday? Caffeine.

Reminds me...coffee, hit the door. After the Charmin...