Community Urinalyses The Newest Big Brother Tool?

Looks that way from this newest little newsie tidbit. Community drug testing by taking ananalyses of the waste water allows scientists to determine what neighborhoods are smoking the most crack and popping the propensity of vicodin and methadone apparently.

I'm not a black helicopter loon but this seems to carry things a little too far, as I can't really imagine what useful information could be gleaned from this, as all one needs to really do is drive up and down the streets anywhere to basically gauge any neighborhood and it's collective drug and alcohol use if you were to ask me.

Scientists Drug-Test Whole Cities:

My Way News - "WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers have figured out how to give an entire community a drug test using just a teaspoon of wastewater from a city's sewer plant. The test wouldn't be used to finger any single person as a drug user. But it would help federal law enforcement and other agencies track the spread of dangerous drugs, like methamphetamines, across the country.

Oregon State University scientists tested 10 unnamed American cities for remnants of drugs, both legal and illegal, from wastewater streams. They were able to show that they could get a good snapshot of what people are taking. 'It's a community urinalysis,' said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington drug abuse researcher who was part of the Oregon State team. The scientists presented their results Tuesday at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston." continued

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