Britain's total cocaine contamination
Author: Jonty Skrufff
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A new study of British bank notes has revealed that 99.9% contain traces of cocaine, the Sunday Telegraph reported this week, which the paper blamed on falling prices and cocaine’s ‘image as a celebrity drug’.
"Traditionally associated with high earners, it has become popular among clubbers and even schoolchildren,” the Telegraph added.
British company Mass Spec Analytical carried out the study, testing over 1,500 notes while in Ireland researchers examined 45 randomly selected euro notes and discovered cocaine traces on all 45.
"The most recent survey carried out in the US showed 65 percent of dollar notes were contaminated with cocaine. However, the 100 percent rate uncovered in this project was surprising,” said research scientist Jonathan Bones (AFP).
"Although not a quantitative measure, the presence of illicit substances on banknotes in general circulation provides an indication of the degree to which substances are being used by the community,” he added.
Both statistics emerged as top Scottish government advisor Tom Wood, chairman of the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action, told a conference that the 'War on Drugs' is lost.
"The truth is that no one here will live to see a drug-free Scotland and a drug-free Europe,” the former police chief told a meeting of Scottish parliamentarians (Daily Record).
Top US academic Orlando Patterson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University described the drug war as “unwinnable” and “far more destructive of life both at home and abroad” in the International Herald-Tribune, and compared its failure to the war on Iraq and terror.
“Banning a product doesn't make it go away; it creates a black market for it, which increases the price. Terrorists take advantage of the higher price by entering the drug trade to raise money for their operation,” the Professor pointed out.
“The drug trade doesn't finance terrorism, the drug war does,” he added. “If the US and other nations stop treating personal choices such as drug use as crimes, many problems would disappear.”
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