Urban urinalysis: Oregon cities 'high' on drugs
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Washington wanted to see if they could find a way to track the use of illegal drugs in cities of all sizes, rural or urban.
And knowing that what goes in must, come out, they used wastewater to test for methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy.
They asked 130 cities in Oregon to send them a sample of their wastewater from a day in March 2008. Of those, 96 responded, including Eugene and Springfield.
They divided the participating cities into three categories -- high, medium and low.
According to Professor Jennifer Field, the Eugene/Springfield area tested high for all three drugs.
"An upper level categorization just meant that they fell into the top third of that particular drug," said Field.
Field warned it's not the levels that are important to the study, it's what the method means for future prevention of illegal drug use.
"Looking within a location, if you look at trends over time, should you be allocating resources for education, intervention, treatment," said Field.
To be clear, Field said the study only tested levels of meth, cocaine and ecstasy for one day in March of 2008. She said those levels could fluctuate on different days and times of the year.
