Scientists find cocaine in UK's water

In a study assessing the dangers associated pharmaceutical contaminants in Britain's water, scientists found traces of the drug cocaine still present after the water had gone through an intensive purification process.

Experts from the Drinking Water Inspectorate found traces of the compound benzoylecgonine — the metabolised by product of cocaine and the same composite searched for in common urine-based drug tests.

Speaking with the UK's Sunday Times, Steve Rolls from the drug-policy thinktank Transform said the startling results were an indication of scale of the drug's use in the Britain.

"We have the near highest level of cocaine use in western Europe," Mr Rolls told the newspaper.

"It has also been getting cheaper and cheaper at the same time as its use has been going up."

The newspaper also quoted the charity DrugScope saying that nearly 700,000 UK residents aged between 16-59 use cocaine every year.......

[via - health.msn.co.nz]