Recebido em 4/6/12; aceito em 29/8/12; publicado na web em 6/2/13 DRUGS OF ABUSE IN WATERS AND WASTEWATERS: OCCURRENCE, ANALYTICAL DETERMINATION AND FORENSIC APPLICATIONS. Drugs of abuse are commonly used outside medical or legal settings where their production, marketing and consumption are subject to legal summons and/or intervention. Classified as emerging contaminants, these substances have been recently detected in samples of environmental concern, such as waters and wastewaters. This review presents the state-of-the-art on the methodological approaches used in sample preparation, the main techniques applied in analytical determination at trace levels, as well as the use of information related to the drug or its metabolite concentration in sewage samples to empirically estimate the consumption of drugs of abuse in a city or region.Keywords: emerging contaminants; drugs of abuse; sewage epidemiology. INTRODUÇÃOHá pelo menos duas décadas, a presença de diversas substâncias orgânicas naturais e sintéticas no ambiente, dentre as quais fármacos, produtos de higiene pessoal e hormônios sexuais, têm chamado a atenção da comunidade científica e regulatória devido aos potenciais riscos que podem trazer ao ambiente e à saúde humana e/ou animal. 1 Conhecidas como contaminantes emergentes, tais substâncias não estão contempladas, de maneira explícita, em nenhuma legislação ambiental. 2 Contaminantes emergentes podem ser encontrados em diferentes compartimentos ambientais e, na grande maioria das vezes, sob níveis de concentração traço, ou seja, menores que uma parte por bilhão. Contudo, mesmo nestas concentrações, inúmeras evidências mostram que substâncias classificadas como emergentes podem efetivamente impactar ecossistemas, causando efeitos que vão desde a bioconcentração até a interferência no sistema endócrino de organismos vivos. 3 Nos últimos anos, pesquisas colocaram em evidência um novo grupo de contaminantes emergentes constituído por drogas de abuso e substâncias psicotrópicas, cuja produção, comercialização e consumo são proibidos ou, em alguns países, objeto de controle. 4-8 Parte dessas substâncias, inalteradas ou sob a forma de metabólitos, é excretada através da urina e das fezes alcançando, invariavelmente, diferentes compartimentos ambientais.Apesar das drogas de abuso apresentarem, comprovadamente, efeitos psicotrópicos e, muitas vezes, tóxicos frente aos seres humanos, ainda não existem estudos ecotoxicológicos a respeito dessas substâncias. 6-8 Entretanto, suspeita-se que possam provocar efeitos deletérios sobre ecossistemas contaminados, tal qual tem sido observado em estudos ecotoxicológicos envolvendo drogas lícitas, como produtos farmacêuticos e/ou mistura de fármacos. 9 Outro motivo de preocupação reside no fato destas substâncias terem se tornado contaminantes pseudopersistentes, definição esta que surge em função de sua grande produção e consumo perene. 8 Segundo o World Drug Report, 10 publicado pelo Escritório das Nações Unidas sobre Drogas e Crime, a quantidade de usuários de drogas de a...

A multiresidue method was developed to estimate community drug use during two weekends of the 2014 Soccer World Cup via wastewater analyses. Five of the 16 investigated substances were detected in all eight samples. Benzoilecgonine (BE), the major cocaine metabolite, was the most abundant substance (1.9 ± 0.3 to 4.2 ± 0.2 μg L ). COC and BE levels suggested a human consumption origin for the investigated drugs. AE/BE ratios revealed a significant use of smoked crack/free base cocaine. Relationships between the adulterants PHE and LEV evidenced a higher use of crack cocaine in the South-Wing WWTP region. An estimative for cocaine use revealed slightly higher drug consumption during the Soccer World Cup weekends in comparison with a typical weekend in 2012.

The distribution of consumed cocaine in the Brazilian Federal District (FD) was estimated using the wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach. Sewage samples from eight wastewater treatment plants were analyzed for cocaine (COC) and benzoylecgonine (BE) using solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The highest per capita consumption was noticed for the northern area of the Brazilian Capital (1162 mg day -1 1000 inh -1 ) being 32% higher than the average consumption rate of the investigated region. In this area, a day-to-day investigation revealed an average cocaine consumption of 1800 mg day -1 1000 inh -1 during the weekend, i.e., more than 50% higher than weekdays. An annual street-grade cocaine load of about 2 ton was estimated for the FD considering previous information on the actual purity of seized street drugs as well as consumers between 15 and 64 years old. Sample preservation strategies were also investigated in order to expand the WBE approach to other Brazilian areas. Sample acidification to pH 2.0 presented the smallest relative errors for COC (+11%) and BE (−4%) after a period of three days under typical transport conditions practiced by the Brazilian national postal service.Keywords: illicit drugs, cocaine use, WBE, sample preservation, consumption estimates IntroductionCocaine and its metabolites are commonly found in wastewater due to human urinary excretion or even through direct drug disposal (accidentally or not) in the sewer system. 1,2 Concentration of the drug residues can be assessed through analytical routines that include sample collection and preservation, followed by specific analytes separation and quantification. Benzoylecgonine (BE) and cocaine (COC) have been the most frequently investigated substances within wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) initiatives around the world, [3][4][5][6][7] since the former is the most abundant cocaine metabolite. Also for this reason, analytical data concerning benzoylecgonine in wastewater samples has been used as a near real-time tool to estimate cocaine consumption for a given population. 8,9 Several works have explored different aspects of the WBE approach including other cocaine metabolites, 10 estimation of other consumed drugs, 10-12 influence of recreational events, [13][14][15][16] consumption dynamics in restricted facilities, [17][18][19] temporal and spatial variability, [20][21][22] stability of target chemicals, 23,24 refinement on estimates calculation, [25][26][27] innovations in sample preparation and analysis, [28][29][30] among others. In Brazil, the first work to put the WBE approach into practice was designed to assess cocaine consumption on regions served by six wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) installed in the Brazilian Federal District (FD). 31 Results revealed a consumption of 920 mg day -1 1000 inhabitants -1 . Recently, our group also showed higher cocaine consumption patterns in the FD during the FIFA World Cup weekend matches as well as significant crack-cocaine use in the FD th...

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