A study carried out by Spanish researchers has made it possible to detect the presence of cocaine, heroin and other drugs in the air of Madrid and Barcelona . The discovery, the result of the application of the first specific method for the detection of drugs in the air using quartz microfiber filters , will be published in the journal Analytical Chemistry .
According to Miren López de Alda and his colleagues from the CSIC, the samples collected over several days "reveal a higher concentration of the compounds during the weekends , which suggests an increase in consumption during that period of time." The most abundant drug in these cities is cocaine , in concentrations of 29 to 850 picograms per cubic meter of air (a picogram is one billionth of a gram). However, there is no need to worry, since the researchers assure that these drugs in suspension are not dangerous. "Not even living 1,000 years would we get to consume the equivalent of a dose of cocaine to breathe this air," says López de Alda. His colleague, Xavier Querol, has warned that the results should not be taken as representative of the air in the two cities, since the measurements were made "based on two very specific measurement points and knowing that there was drug use in their environment. ".
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