Cocaine on 85% of Canadian banknotes in study

This study has clearly told us that we have an epidemic going on in the city of Toronto and Canada as a whole. Time to come together and help our brothers and sisters and organize an Intervention for our Toronto people. It seems like a lot of people in Toronto are snorting it up.

Aug 17, 2009 07:31 PM TREVOR PRITCHARD
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Nearly nine out of 10 Canadian banknotes examined by a team of U.S. researchers contained trace amounts of cocaine.

In a study presented Sunday at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, researchers looked at banknotes from more than 30 cities in Canada, the U.S., Brazil, China, and Japan.

Twenty-seven Canadian bills, taken mostly from Toronto and the Sarnia, Ont., area, were analyzed, said lead researcher Yuegang Zuo, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Of the Canadian bills, 85 per cent were laced with cocaine. The amount of coke found on the banknotes ranged from 2.4 micrograms to upwards of 2,530 micrograms – approximately 100 grains of sand.

The results in the U.S. were similar. The researchers examined 234 bills from 17 U.S. cities and found that nearly 90 per cent of the notes contained trace amounts of cocaine.

Scientists have long known that money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals or by snorting the drug through rolled bills.

Bills that are not involved in drug deals can also be contaminated as they are processed by banks.

Such studies can be useful for police, said Zuo, because they can help identify drug traffic patterns in a particular community.

But he also said an analysis of 27 Canadian banknotes is not enough to make sweeping generalizations about cocaine use in the country.

"It doesn't really represent the whole of Canadian currency," said Zuo.

"The number is too small. More substantive research is needed."

Law enforcement agencies might look to research like Zuo's to help boost the number of drug-related arrests, but that alone won't lower addiction rates, said University of Ottawa criminology professor Irvin Waller.

"The real issue is how much money you're putting into prevention," said Waller.

"Even if you know where (the cocaine) is flowing, this isn't a lot of help unless you're going to be putting money into reducing demand for it in that area."

The rates of North American bills laced with cocaine was significantly higher in Zuo's research than banknotes from China and Japan.

Of the 112 Chinese banknotes researchers analyzed, only one in five contained any sign of the drug. Only two of the 16 Japanese banknotes were contaminated with cocaine.

Despite the study's findings, Zuo said people shouldn't have any health or legal concerns about handling drug-tainted paper money.

In most of the notes examined, the amount of cocaine found was too small to interfere with drug tests or cause any health problems, he said.

Police find 20 types of drugs in Jackson's home

With more information coming out about the death of Jackson, perhaps it was time for Michael Jackson to go, perhaps it was meant to be?

Sunday, a judge signed search warrants connected to the investigation of Jackson's death, Los Angeles County Superior Court spokesperson Allan Parachini said.

Police 'find methadone' in Jackson's home

Police reportedly found 20 types of drugs in Michael Jackson's Los Angeles mansion, including the heroin substitute methadone.

(BANG) -

Methadone was reportedly found in Michael Jackson's home.

The heroin substitute and 19 other types of drugs, including potentially lethal painkillers and anesthetics, were recovered from the pop legend's Los Angeles mansion by police investigating his death last Thursday (25.06.09).

A source said: "The Jackson mansion was more like a drug store than someone's home."

Other drugs found included Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller given to terminal cancer patients and Oxycontin, another painkiller dubbed 'Hillbilly Heroin'.

Some of the medications had Michael's name on the label but many were labeled with other names, while some didn't have any labels.

It is thought Michael used different aliases to obtain his prescriptions including the names of his bodyguards and a doctor's manager.

The 50-year-old star died after a suspected cardiac arrest, amid claims it was caused by an accidental drug overdose.

Police are now said to be searching for those who helped supply Michael with the deadly cocktail of drugs and are considering manslaughter charges as the prescription medicines who reportedly obtained without regard for his safety.

The source added to Britain's The Sun newspaper: "Powerful narcotic painkillers of all kinds were found. There was no reasonable excuse for them all being there. Using more than one of this type of drug can be potentially fatal. But there were 10 in house - it's unbelievable.

"Police want to know whether other people named on the medicine labels really needed the drugs prescribed to them and will be speaking to all doctors involved. The drugs found remain at the very heart of the investigation into the death of Michael Jackson."

At least four doctors, including Michael's personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray, are also at the centre of the investigation.

However, according to Murray's legal team he is not considered a suspect and is co-operating with the investigation.

He has denied injecting Michael with the painkiller Demerol before he died or prescribing the father-of-three with either Demerol or OxyContin.

(C) BANG Media International