Paper money is known to contain high traces of cocaine. A new study published in the latest issue of the Trends in Analytical Chemistry journal has revealed that U.S. bills take the top spot for having the greatest amount of cocaine.
"These findings should not be surprising, because cocaine and other drugs are traded using cash, which is handled by the same fingers that directly touch the drugs or wrappings," chemists Sergio Armenta and Miguel de la Guardia from the University of Valencia in Spain reveal. "Moreover, many cocaine users use a wrapped banknote to sniff this drug, so inducing direct cocaine contamination of the banknotes."
U.S. bills were found to contain an average of between 2.9 and 28.8 micrograms of cocaine depending on the year and city. Bills from 1996 take the cake with more than 1,300 micrograms found on some. Ah, the coke and heroin chic days:
So how did other countries around the world fare in this test? Spanish notes contained an average of 155 micrograms of cocaine. While levels of cocaine in German Euros were found to be five times lower than the Spanish ones.
The bottom line? Get your hands on some 1996 bills for a quick fix!
Drugged Money
US Bills Have The Most Cocaine
Trend Themes
1. High Cocaine Contamination in US Bills - Opportunity for companies to develop innovative ways to clean or detect cocaine in paper money.
2. International Variations in Cocaine Contamination - Opportunity for companies to address the varying levels of cocaine contamination in different countries' currencies.
3. Drug-related Contamination in Cash Handling - Opportunity for companies to develop technologies or practices that minimize drug contamination in cash handling.
Industry Implications
1. Currency Cleaning and Detection - Opportunity for companies in the financial and security industry to develop solutions for cleaning and detecting cocaine in paper money.
2. Forensic Analysis - Opportunity for companies in the forensic analysis industry to develop methods for analyzing and quantifying drug contamination in currencies.
3. Cash Handling and ATM Technology - Opportunity for banking and ATM technology companies to develop anti-contamination measures for handling cash transactions.