Illicit Italy
Angelo Cecinato has been measuring psychotropic substances in the air of Italy’s major cities. Here, he describes the background, methodology and implications of his study
Method for characterization of psychotropic substances in particulate matter (PM)
How did you get started?
“The first measurement was a pure curiosity. No-one had reported these compounds in the atmosphere previously. Discovering cocaine in the air of Rome led me to investigate other substances in different cities and situations. I thought it might provide information about lifestyle in terms of drug consumption and perhaps identify any health significance.”
Who funds the work?
“The Italian Department for Anti-Drug Policy support the work. They had interest on two levels: the actual concentration levels of illicit drugs in Italian cities, and whether this information could be used as a quantitative indicator of drug consumption.”
What was your approach?
“Common and simple methodologies that could be easily applied by air pollution control authorities everywhere. Cost efficiency, equipment availability and ease of data comparison were at the forefront of my mind. We took measurements for an entire year in Italy’s four largest cities as well as four medium sized cities.”
What did you find?
“We got reproducible results on drug concentrations. But providing conclusive answers to the second aspect is more difficult. The results provide some qualitative indicators about drug consumption in different cities and regions. But the main confounding factor is how environmental conditions, such as climate or reactivity of the atmosphere, and social factors, like population density, modify the results.
Normalizing for population density, Florence and Bologna have the highest levels of cannabinoids in the air, which fits well with estimates that these two cities have higher consumption of cannabinoids due to higher student populations…”
Are other countries showing an interest?
“I have taken measurements in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Cocaine concentrations there are much higher than in Italy.”
Angelo Cecinato, Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, National Research Council, Italy.
Rich Whitworth completed his studies in medical biochemistry at the University of Leicester, UK, in 1998. To cut a long story short, he escaped to Tokyo to spend five years working for the largest English language publisher in Japan. "Carving out a career in the megalopolis that is Tokyo changed my outlook forever. When seeing life through such a kaleidoscopic lens, it's hard not to get truly caught up in the moment." On returning to the UK, after a few false starts with grey, corporate publishers, Rich was snapped up by Texere Publishing, where he spearheaded the editorial development of The Analytical Scientist. "I feel honored to be part of the close-knit team that forged The Analytical Scientist – we've created a very fresh and forward-thinking publication." Rich is now also Content Director of Texere Publishing, the company behind The Analytical Scientist.
