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VANCOUVER SUN | Higher levels of opioids and meth found in Vancouver waste water
Metro Vancouver has higher-than-average levels of opioids and methamphetamine in its waste-water system compared with other Canadian cities, according to a new Statistics Canada study analyzing cannabis and drug use in the country based on what Canadians flush down their toilets.
The pilot project uses a new technique called waste-water epidemiology, which has been used in Europe since 2007 to gauge the consumption of different types of drugs in urban areas. It collected and tested municipal waste-water samples from 14 treatment plants in five major urban centres between March 2018 and February 2019. Samples were taken every half-hour for a week per month, and were analyzed by researchers at McGill University in Montreal.
