Most cocaine in wastewater is in Holešovice. When do Praguers take ecstasy?
Věra Očenášková, head of the local hydrochemistry, dealt with the occurrence of the department of illegal drugs in wastewater (which, according to scientists, can be treated as a very dilute urine sample) six years ago, throughout the Czech Republic. It is probably not surprising that the highest consumption of cocaine was in Prague, where more affluent clients live.
“It is a completely anonymous approach to drug measurement, it is not influenced by any questionnaires, medical or police reports. If we find out that there is an increased incidence of drugs somewhere, we can target prevention there, “Očenášková explains this method in the mentioned report.
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According to her, the devices they work with at the Water Management Institute are highly sensitive. Drugs measure liquid chromatography in nanogram quantities, which is an idea of a few sugar cubes in dams. In addition, other substances that may be useful for medical research, for example, are currently being analyzed.
They measured the most meth on Palmovka
Samples are taken at the wastewater treatment plant in Bubeneč. “We will find out the concentration of liters of wastewater, if we know the flow of wastewater on the day of sampling and the number of inhabitants connected to the sewerage network, then we can perform a recalculation. Then we get a certain weight of the substance per day and a thousand inhabitants, “Očenášková described for Blesk.cz.
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Prague is divided into several sewers, where waste from the bathrooms and toilets of all households as well as restaurants and shops. In addition to the aforementioned Holešovice and Karlín, Stoka B also includes another area of Prague 7 and Žižkov. It was there that the concentration of cocaine was highest – up to 544 mg per day per 1,000 inhabitants.
Stoka E collects water from the Palmovka area, parts of Libeň, Kobylis and the Vysočany border. Here they measured the highest value of methamphetamine, ie meth, which is slang for “gingerbread” or “piko”.
On the other hand, Stoka F, which includes Černý Most, a large part of Prague 9 or, for example, the north of the eighth city district, has values up to six times lower. Interestingly, the central metropolis performed relatively well in this research. Prague 1 and Prague 2, where there are a large number of nightclubs and bars, are part of the ACK sewer and basically include the rest of the capital, including quieter suburbs. “Although people take drugs in the city center, they usually excrete drugs at home, ie in other parts of the city,” Očenášková explained.
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The work from 2014, in which he appears together with other colleagues, also found a significant consumption of MDMA (ie ecstasy) during the first year of the popular Signal Festival. According to a report by ČT, the situation was repeated last year, when the festival of light compositions took place in the shadow of the death of the singer Karel Gott.
Ecstasy consumption rises to “witches”
The TG Masaryk Water Management Research Institute also found from the analysis of wastewater that the use of so-called parties or dance drugs, where ecstasy belongs, increases on weekends.
In addition, when a graph showing data from 2013 suddenly jumped up, scientists were looking at the date for another clear trend – ecstasy consumption rises during the so-called burning of witches, which is usually followed by a day off in the form of Labor Day on May 1.
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