Oregon Public Broadcasting

The results are in on a groundbreaking study of regional patterns of drug abuse.

Researchers at OSU and the UW tested raw sewage from nearly 100 Oregon towns for traces of cocaine, methamphetamine, and the party drug Ecstasy. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

This research project proved it's possible to give a communal urinalysis with just a teaspoon of sewage.

University of Washington drug epidemiologist Caleb Banta-Green says the results can be used to better target treatment, prevention and law enforcement spending.

Caleb Banta-Green: “This is a methodology that we think is going to be pretty valuable because it's pretty low cost. It's quantifiable. You can compare apples to apples across places.”

Testing of samples taken last March showed methamphetamine was easily detectable in every single participating sewage system.

Cocaine, by contrast, tended to be more concentrated in cities.

The researchers have moved into a new phase with the drug surveillance method. They're looking for trends over time using weekly samples from twenty sewage treatment plants across Washington and Oregon.

The initial study is published online in the science journal Addiction.