Elsevier

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Volume 156, 1 November 2015, Pages 311-314
Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Short communication
Prevalence and distribution patterns of amphetamine and methamphetamine consumption in a federal state in southwestern Germany using wastewater analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.09.006Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Wastewater analysis shown to provide valuable data about the abuse pattern of drugs of abuse.

  • Confirmed geographical difference in the use of amphetamine-like stimulants.

  • Data important for planning area and compound focused interventions and precautions.

Abstract

Background

Wastewater analysis is a new approach developed to estimate drug (of abuse) consumption in large communities, such as cities or even whole countries.

Aims

This paper presents data on the loads of amphetamine and methamphetamine measured in ten wastewater treatment plants in different parts of a German federal state. It provides an estimation of the intensity of the consumption and a comparison to other regions in Germany and Europe.

Methods

Consumption of amphetamine and methamphetamine was estimated by analysis of drug residues in composite 24 h samples of wastewater after mechanical treatment over one week by liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Samples were collected from the inlet of ten wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in the federal state of Saarland, representing bigger cities (>200,000 inhabitants), medium sized cities (>50,000 inhabitants), small cities (>25,000 inhabitants), and villages (<25,000 inhabitants). In each WWTP, samples were taken daily for seven consecutive days in July 2014.

Results

We observed differences of amphetamine versus methamphetamine loads (expressed as mg/day/1000 inhabitants): Amphetamine loads were much higher in all tested WWTPs indicating a low prevalence of methamphetamine abuse in the federal state of Saarland at the tested period. These findings are in line with previous reports about the distribution of amphetamine and methamphetamine in Germany and Europe.

Conclusions

The approach confirms that wastewater analysis can provide valuable data about the abuse pattern of drugs of abuse in cities and larger areas. It can be useful for planning interventions aimed at specific areas and substances.

Introduction

Support of public health and law enforcement services with data on patterns of drug use can be done by analysing the urinary excretion products of drugs and alcohol in wastewater influent (Castiglioni et al., 2008, Mastroianni et al., 2014, van Nuijs et al., 2011, Zuccato et al., 2008). Such data can be used to estimate the relative amount of drugs consumed by people living in a defined area and data can support drug precaution programmes. Wastewater analysis especially allows for monitoring temporal and spatial trends in drug use. It also provides highly frequent updates on estimates of drug use, identifies changing habits, and the use of new substances (Castiglioni et al., 2014, Ort et al., 2014). Ort et al. (2014) recently presented a work dedicated to the spatial differences and temporal changes in illicit drug use in Europe and concluded that wastewater analysis provided complementary evidence on illicit drug consumption and that it can measure total illicit drug use more quickly and regularly than surveys. They monitored amongst other the excretion pattern of amphetamine (AMP) and methamphetamine (METH). The highest AMP loads were found in Belgium, the Netherlands, western Germany, and northern Europe. In contrast, the locations with the highest METH loads were found in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and eastern Germany. In Germany, Dülmen and Dortmund (West) and Dresden (East) were part of the study. This indicated an apparent geographical difference in the use of the amphetamine-like stimulants. However, as there were only two cities monitored in western Germany, data on this phenomenon in the consumption pattern of AMP and METH within Germany needs further support. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse for differences in the loads of AMP and METH within one federal state including rural and urban areas in the southwest of Germany by wastewater analysis.

Section snippets

Reference drugs, deuterated analogues and chemicals

The drugs and deuterated analogues were obtained from Promochem (Wesel, Germany). All other chemicals used were of analytical grade and obtained from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany).

Sewage-sample collection and treatment

Samples were collected at ten different wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) spread around the federal state of Saarland, Germany. The area is shown in Fig. 1. The characteristics of the individual WWTP can be found in Table 1. An Endress + Hauser stationary water sampler type asp-station 2000 was used to collect 24-h (time

Method validation

The analytical method was successfully validated in accordance with the criteria of the European Medicine Agency (EMA, 2011). Using the product ion mass spectra (MS2) of the analytes, the method was selective enough down to the LLOQ. Using only the accurate masses of the protonated molecule (MS1), interferences were observed for AMP over the whole chromatographic run. A simply weighted linear calibration model was acceptable based on the back-calculation of calibrators. No carry-over problems

Conclusion

The presented work confirms that wastewater analysis can provide valuable data about the abuse pattern of drugs of abuse and confirmed the geographical difference in the use of amphetamine-like stimulants previously observed in a European-wide study. Furthermore, these data on the loads of both drugs in a particular part of Germany should give valuable insights into drug trading routes and distribution patters within central Europe. Data also indicated that consumption of AMP might not be

Role of funding source

No funding.

Contributors

All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of interest

No conflict declared.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the people at the WWTP for sample collection, Hans H. Maurer, Armin A. Weber, Lilian H. J. Richter, Marie Mardal, Julian A. Michely, and Carsten Schröder for their support.

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