[Cofeeman]

This explains a lot.


Filed in the folder marked “facts most people would never imagine” is the news that nearly nine out of 10 bills in the U.S. are contaminated with cocaine.

Data released by the American Chemical Society says that “cocaine is present in up to 90 percent of paper money in the United States, particularly in large cities such as Baltimore, Boston, and Detroit. The scientists found traces of cocaine in 95 percent of the banknotes analyzed from Washington, D.C., alone.”

Many of those bills were used at some point to actually take cocaine, but many were contaminated by being bundled with tainted bills.

The problem is growing rapidly. Two years ago, the number was 67%.

The information raises the opportunity for law enforcement agencies to use the traces of the substance to track the international movement of drugs. Most large transactions for products like cocaine and heroin are done in cash. The flow of illicit drugs has been nearly impossible to trace. That may have changed in just the last year or so.

[Ternneowns]

This story isn't new: http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

[MasdMnPa]

It's not like there's powder on all these bills either, what's a trace amount? How many parts per billion are they talking about to give a "positive" result. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the money also has traces of feces, urine, and a bunch of other stuff if you look hard enough.

[Seerseraxlils]

It's not like there's powder on all these bills either, what's a trace amount? How many parts per billion are they talking about to give a "positive" result. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the money also has traces of feces, urine, and a bunch of other stuff if you look hard enough.

Good point.

Just imagine the way some people live and how disgusting they are.

Then imagine that they handled the same money that is in your wallet.

The change in your change jar could have once been in someones moldy basement or behind someones toilet lol

[Cofeeman]

This story isn't new: http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

This study is a bit different, though.

Scientists have known for years that paper money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals and directly through drug use such as snorting cocaine through rolled bills. Contamination can spread to banknotes not involved in the illicit drug culture because bills are processed in banks’ currency-counting machines.

Previous studies on cocaine in banknotes, however, had several drawbacks. They often were based on sampling only a small number of banknotes, for instance. Some tests destroyed the currency.

In the new study, Zuo and colleagues describe use of a modified form of a standard laboratory instrument termed a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. It allows a faster, simpler and more accurate measurement of cocaine contamination than other methods, without destroying the currency.The researchers used the method to analyze banknotes of several different denominations from the five countries surveyed.

The U.S. had the highest levels. The scientists analyzed a total of 234 banknotes from the U.S. and found that up to 90 percent of the banknotes contain traces of cocaine. Amounts ranged from .006 micrograms (several thousands of times smaller than a single grain of sand) to over 1,240 micrograms of cocaine per banknote (about 50 grains of sand).

For comparison: A grain of sand weighs approximately 23 micrograms; there are one million micrograms in a gram and 28 grams in an ounce.

[Kvkcgktl]

Why use paper and not plastic like we do. Plastic is water resistant, harder to tear and has a longer life span and probably harder to contaminate. So why do the US have paper money?

Is it easier to produce/make or something? cheaper to make?

[MasdMnPa]

Why use paper and not plastic like we do. Plastic is water resistant, harder to tear and has a longer life span and probably harder to contaminate. So why do the US have paper money?

Is it easier to produce/make or something? cheaper to make?

I think part of it is probably that the paper we print money on is special paper, that's part of the anti-counterfitting stuff we do I bet.

The other part is probably just reluctance to change. It's always been paper.

[Cofeeman]

I actually just thought that it was ironic that after probably the worlds longest and most expensive war on drugs.........

That the US currency is probably the most drug contaminated in the world! [yes]



There has just got to be a parable in there, somewhere.......

[JoZertekAdv]

I think part of it is probably that the paper we print money on is special paper, that's part of the anti-counterfitting stuff we do I bet.

The other part is probably just reluctance to change. It's always been paper.

It's technically cloth and not paper

[medifastwoman]

[I][B]The scientists analyzed a total of 234 banknotes from the U.S. and found that up to 90 percent of the banknotes contain traces of cocaine.

LOL at sample size.

On a similar note: 100% of my cash contains hooker spit.

[JoZertekAdv]

LOL at sample size.

On a similar note: 100% of my cash contains hooker spit.

Man, that's it? 234?

Btw 100% of your trunk contains my sperm :O

[MasdMnPa]

I actually just thought that it was ironic that after probably the worlds longest and most expensive war on drugs.........

That the US currency is probably the most drug contaminated in the world! [yes]



There has just got to be a parable in there, somewhere.......

While I agree that the war on drugs is BS, you've got to factor in that it's also one of the richest countries with the most disposable income available to buy these drugs, that's gotta be a factor.

LOL at sample size.
.

I hadn't seen that! What a crock!

[Cofeeman]

Not being a statistician, I have no idea if the sample size and number of cities sampled combined is enough to be demonstrably significant. Certainly the scientists conducting the test appeared to think it covered their needs.

What should the number of samples have been, to be considered valid?

[Zarekylin75]

I notice the cities they listed were all pretty big, with high crime rates.

[medifastwoman]

Not being a statistician, I have no idea if the sample size and number of cities sampled combined is enough to be demonstrably significant. Certainly the scientists conducting the test appeared to think it covered their needs.

What should the number of samples have been, to be considered valid?

No one, not even a Ph.D. in statistics can answer that question. Statistics is one of the few "fuzzy" sciences... which is surprising since it is highly mathematical.

As new statistical methods are developed, they do no replace the existing ones. There are multiple methods to produce similar statistics, it is really up to the statistician's interpretation on which methods to use, since different methods can produce some wildly different results.

To answer your question, a bit of real logic can be used here: A sample of 234 bills is what percentage of the total number of bills available? Even if they are selected truly at random, what does 90% of

[appletango]

The Air in Spanish cities is full of LSD,..
linky

[rofl]

[LarryRda]

The Air in Spanish cities is full of LSD,..
linky

[rofl]

no wonder i was messed up the whole time I was in Barcelona, i was breathing Cocaine and LSD. Either that or all the hash

[acneman]

I lost a gram of coke once in my wallet, it had infected the whole inside of the wallet and bills got contstantly contaminated.. till I got a new wallet.

[Cofeeman]

[quote]No one, not even a Ph.D. in statistics can answer that question. Statistics is one of the few "fuzzy" sciences... which is surprising since it is highly mathematical.

As new statistical methods are developed, they do no replace the existing ones. There are multiple methods to produce similar statistics, it is really up to the statistician's interpretation on which methods to use, since different methods can produce some wildly different results.

To answer your question, a bit of real logic can be used here: A sample of 234 bills is what percentage of the total number of bills available? Even if they are selected truly at random, what does 90% of

[Enladalusange]

Why use paper and not plastic like we do. Plastic is water resistant, harder to tear and has a longer life span and probably harder to contaminate. So why do the US have paper money?

Is it easier to produce/make or something? cheaper to make?

I saw on the news a few days ago that the average life span of paper bills in circulation is 18 months and the average for coins is 30 years.