On Sunday, the American Chemical Society, a nonprofit scientific society chartered by Congress, released a study claiming that up to 90 percent of U.S. paper money contains traces of cocaine.
Of the 5 countries studied, The U.S. and Canada had the highest levels tested, with China and Japan ranking lowest, from 12 to 20 percent contamination levels.
Scientists are reporting 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.
95% in D.C., huh, what could that mean?
I bet they found traces of lots of other things, too.
Seems like I heard this same story several years ago.
nice to see government funded groups spending time recreating results that were already commonly known. Snopes cites studies on this done more than 20 years ago http://snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp
95% in D.C., huh, what could that mean? – Guilherme Cherman
It means that a lot of unwashed money circulates in D.C. This kind of study is a waste of tax payers dollars. It has been done before. I have been hearing this for 20 years or more.
Some people do cocaine, sensationalizing it proves and accomplishes nothing.
This has been known for years (sniff, sniff), and the percentage (sniff) is a bit higher (sniff sniff sniff).
This isn’t news. How old is this editor? Twelve?
If someone is caught carrying even trace amounts of cocaine across the border into Dubai, and it’s life in jail.
… so the US should do some more money laundering?
Yeah, stop doing that shit with our bills… use the floor instead.
Probably even a higher percentage has detectable fecal coliform.
If you handle money all the time wash your hands with gel hand sanitizer which you can keep in an apron. Keep the gel away from sparks.
I call BS. The idea that 90% of all bills in circulation has been used to snort cocaine is absolutely preposterous. I’m surprised someone else hasn’t picked up on this already. If the coke is present, it’s more likely that it is there as a by-product of the manufacturing process than as a result of the bill being used to snort coke.
#11 – the almighty – I call BS. The idea that 90% of all bills in circulation has been used to snort cocaine is absolutely preposterous.
Let me clue you in… Bills rub against each other in the wallets… 😉
Bank tellers are trained to think of it as dirty paper which is what it is.
The coke traces are from drug dealer transactions nothing more. The coke then rubs off onto other money.
It’s simple, if you snort coke with a bill and then put it back in your wallet ,that bill contaminates all the other bills in the wallet and then goes on to contaminate as it circulates through the system. one bill can contaminate thousands of other bills. It’s not that everyone is snorting coke, but what is worrisome is that this shows if you wanted to pass some bizarre virus around all you have to do is figure out how to make it live in the wild on ink and coke.
mmmm coke fueled retro swine flu virus
We had better start locking all of this money up. If 90% of paper money is into drugs then we need to take stronger measures against dirty money.
RFID tags in currency, already proposed, is a wonderful idea of seeing where this money scores its shit.
Thankfully most coins have yet to be enraptured in the the death spiral of dangerous drugs. Since coins look up to their larger denomination relatives, though, constant vigilance is required.
I have a dime bag of dollar for sale.
#9: lol, true that…
It’s no wonder I like to have money!
#12, Jag,
Let me clue you in… Bills rub against each other in the wallets…
HOLY SHIT !!! are you suggesting all those old Presidents are gay??? Franklyn and Grant rubbing against each other in a confined space. Geeze, what would FDR and Lincoln do?
that money and cocaine are closely associated. Regarding fecal material: not so much. I wiped my ass in Gorky Park with a ruble because the money was cheaper than the toilet paper–but then I flushed the bill.
I recall several Kung Fu pictures of a pile of money on a table being counted while 20 nude women where weighing and measuring white powder on the table. Yes, there is an association.
More interesting, and not quite as old, is the variable and measurable amount of cocaine metabolites in the waste water of cities. Anything produced, distributed, and consumed–will show up everywhere.
All drugs should be legalized.
“95% in D.C., huh, what could that mean?”
That Marion Barry’s been busy since leaving office? HAR!
It means that a police officer with a drug-sniffing job can claim probable cause to detain and search anyone.
#18 – Mr. Fusion – are you suggesting all those old Presidents are gay
Pedro says it’s not gay to rub yourself against another man… you know… he got experience.
Old non story #11. It’s not that 90% of bills are used, it’s that it just takes 1 bill to contaminate a large percentage of the others.
#22 – chuck – It means that a police officer with a drug-sniffing job…
Reminds me of Lard’s I Wanna Be a Drug Sniffing Dog (lyrics – here’s the song).
simple question: where’s the “How we test” link??? This kind of “news” is just information pollution if you ask me…
where are the repeated results from other truly random samples???
Money paper is filthy. Electronic money will put an end to that filthiness eventually.
Of course, it will also be a lot easier to be stolen. We will be destitute, but our hands will be clean.
Old tale on a new day
Ancient news isn’t news
#26 – When this went around in the 1990s my boss purchased a test kit which was a liquid that turned blue when it encountered cocaine. I believe he asked the local police chemist what to buy. We tested many bills ($20s & $100s)in Southwest Colorado and all the bills we tested had cocaine, as indicated by this test.
I believe it is well explained in these posts above.