An international analysis of wastewater from sewage systems in more than 100 European cities reveals that cocaine use in Oslo has tripled in just the past four years. Oslo was also shown to have the highest cocaine use of all Scandinavian cities taking part.
The study, organized through The European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), examined samples of sewage in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim from a 10-day period in April of last year. Analysts looked for traces of cannabis, amphetamines, nicotine, alcohol, heroin and cocaine in the samples, with cocaine logging the highest growth.
State broadcaster NRK reports that all the Norwegian samples were analyzed at St Olavs Hospital in Trondheim. Researchers there and elsewhere in Europe were interested mostly in samples that showed signs of having gone through a human body, to eliminate drugs that may have just been dumped sraight into a toilet. They found such bodily samples via small concentrations, just a nanogram per liter of wastewater.
EUDA analysts also found that Norwegians ranked high among European countries in the use of amphetamines. “Only a few other cities measured higher amphetamine levels than the Norwegian cities,” researcher Tonje Gottenberg Skaalvik of St Olavs analysis team told NRK.
Linda Granlund of the state health directorate told NRK that the new numbers are worrisome, “and it’s surprisng the increase (in cocaine use) is so high.” She said it’s important to stress how dangerous cocaine can be. Studies have shown how the “intense rush” from cocaine can lead to dependency, heart attacks, anxiety, depression and psychosis.
Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre is also worried, and said the government is working on a new program directed at children and youth to warn them of the dangers of illegal narcotics. The high level of affluence in Norway, especially in cities, can also be behind recent reports of more frequent presence of cocaine at parties frequented by young adults. They include the son of Crown Princess Mette Marit, who has publicly acknowledged cocaine use in connection with his recent arrests for violence and vandalism.
“This is part of a European trend of more cocaine use in recent years,” Thomas Clausen, a researcher at the University of Oslo, told NRK. “The Norwegian public has strong purchasing power, and more people have taken on more liberal attitudes towards narcotics in recent years, especially among youth.”
Clausen, who leads the SERAF center in Oslo that studies drugs and dependency, said he thinks the sewage analyses, along with use of questionnaires, “give us a better understanding of reality. Cocaine use is rising, but at the same time, it’s important to remember that the vast majority of us don’t use it.”
See the entire study of drug use through wastewater analysis here (external link to the EUDA’s website).
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund