There's a thing In The Air In Rome: Cocaine and Nicotine
Scientists have disclosured particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of the capital of Italy, they reported recently.
The concentration of tobacco was the strongest in the air around Rome’s Sapienza University, though Dr. Angelo Cecinato, a representative of the National Research Council’s notified against making conclusions about students’ recreational habits.
Naming their study "the first in the world to demonstrate the presence of particles of cocaine and cigarette tobacco suspended in the atmosphere of the city," the researchers stated they took samples in Rome, the southern city of Taranto and in Algiers in North Africa.
Nicotine and caffeine were detected in all three, "showing how widespread consumption of tobacco and cigarettes is and how they keep in the atmosphere," state-funded CNR said in a report.
The concentration of cocaine discovered in atmosphere of Rome was only 0.1 nanogrammes (1 nanogramme is one billionth of a gramme) per cubic meter especially during winter months, the researchers said. But the conclusions were dempening for public health.
"It is well documented that even small concentrations in the air of tobacco and cocaine as pollutants can seriously injure people’s health," said Dr. Ivo Allegrini from the CNR’s Institute for Atmospheric Pollution.
