ROME (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Italy's capital, they said on Thursday.
The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome's Sapienza university, though the National Research Council's Dr. Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students' recreational habits.
Calling their study "the first in the world to show the presence of particles of cocaine suspended in the atmosphere of the city," the researchers said they took samples in Rome, the southern city of Taranto and in Algiers in North Africa.
Nicotine and caffeine were detected in all three, "showing how widespread consumption of these substances is and how they remain in the atmosphere," state-funded CNR said in a statement.
The concentration of cocaine in Rome's atmosphere was only 0.1 nanogrammes (1 nanogramme is one billionth of a gramme) per cubic metre at its height during winter months, the researchers said. But the conclusions were worrying for public health.
"It is well documented that even small concentrations in the air of these pollutants can seriously damage health," said Dr. Ivo Allegrini of the CNR's Institute for Atmospheric Pollution.
― nicky lo-fi, Thursday, 31 May 2007 16:44 (nineteen years ago)
Wasn't it also in Rome recently that some near-total percentage of bills had cocaine traces on them?
― nabisco, Thursday, 31 May 2007 16:50 (nineteen years ago)
yeah definitely more worried about psychoactive substances in the air than the shit yr fuckin sportscars belch out
― TOMBOT, Thursday, 31 May 2007 16:58 (nineteen years ago)
and was it the Po that had some alarmingly high level of cocaine in the water?
― gff, Thursday, 31 May 2007 16:59 (nineteen years ago)
i think the conclusion i'm drawing from this is that... italians are into coke
― gff, Thursday, 31 May 2007 17:00 (nineteen years ago)
And the radio-show thing, with the drug-tested politician? Clearly some kind of over-the-top coke-boom moment happening there.
― nabisco, Thursday, 31 May 2007 17:02 (nineteen years ago)
Here in SF coke seems to be about as cheap as it's ever been and its all over the place.
― Michael White, Thursday, 31 May 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)
it's always been all over the place here but the quality has been steadily diminishing. it used to be about a 4 week cycle where you'd get a batch that was absolute rocket fuel and then the next would be stepped on and the next would be stepped on a little more until it was barely worth it. right now everything is so damn speedy it almost makes your eyes water.
― chicago kevin, Thursday, 31 May 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)