Using environmental analytical data to estimate levels of community consumption of illicit drugs and abused pharmaceuticals

A solid phase extraction (SPE) method has been developed and applied in conjunction with a previously reported liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) procedure for the determination of illicit drugs and abused pharmaceuticals in treated wastewater and surface water samples at the ng L-1 level. A full method validation was also performed and determined levels of analytical sensitivity were found to lie in the 1-10 ng L-1 range using river water as a test sample matrix and a sample size of 500 mL. The developed procedure was successfully applied for the determination of the chosen analytes in wastewater treatment plants in Dublin, Ireland and rapidly expanding commuter towns in the surrounding counties. Cocaine was detected in 70% of the collected samples in the range of 25-489 ng L-1, its primary metabolite, benzoylecognine (BZE) was also detected in the range of 22-290 ng L-1. Other substances detected included morphine, Tempazepam and the primary metabolite of methadone.