Most US Paper Money Has Traces of Cocaine

[Marcia]

Most US bills contain trace amounts of cocaine:

Paper money contains high traces of cocaine, regardless of whether or not the paper money came into direct contact with the drug. And U.S. bills take the top spot, covered in the greatest amount of the illegal powder, while Spanish notes are the most highly contaminated in Europe, a new study finds.

The findings, detailed in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Analytical Chemistry, reflect the popularity of the illicit drug, the researchers say.
"These findings should not be surprising, because cocaine and other drugs are traded using cash, which is handled by the same fingers that directly touch the drugs or wrappings," chemists Sergio Armenta and Miguel de la Guardia from the University of Valencia in Spain write. "Moreover, many cocaine users use a wrapped banknote to sniff this drug, so inducing direct cocaine contamination of the banknotes." <MORE>

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26039953/

For more info, see
http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

 

[Magnetic Poles]

Like mama always told you...don't put money in your mouth. It's dirty.

 

[Marcia]

Like mama always told you...don't put money in your mouth. It's dirty.

Germs I can understand, but cocaine?!

It seems symbolic to me.

 

[Johnv]

This aint' news. We knew about this when I was in college. Please don't ask me how we knew

 

[donnA]

I knew becasue it's been on tv for a couple of years now.

 

[rbell]

I've heard of "the high cost" of something...but I thought it was just a figure of speech...

 

[BigBossman]

No wonder I find money so addictive.