MDMA Use at Start of Pandemic Rose Almost 300 Percent in New England Town
Story by Jess Thomson • Yesterday
Use of MDMA in a small town in New England rose by almost 300 percent at the start of the COVID pandemic, along with huge spikes in cocaine, fentanyl and methadone.
Sheree Pagsuyoin, an expert on wastewater monitoring for drugs and COVID-19 at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and her research team had been collecting samples from the town's wastewater twice each month between September 2018 to August 2020, to look for trends in drug use. Samples were tested for morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, methadone, fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine (MDMA), and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA).
There are high rates of consumption and deaths from prescription drugs such as fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, codeine and morphine in New England, with the area being one of the hotspots of the opioid crisis in the U.S., according to one 2019 study in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Delaware had the second highest age-adjusted death rate from opioid overdose of all U.S. states in 2020 at 47.3 per 100,000 people, CDC data shows, with Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine and Connecticut all falling into the top 10 worst-affected states. The highest death rate was found in Kentucky, where there were 49.2 deaths per 100,000 people.
Opioids are responsible for a large number of deaths across the country, with the U.S. considered to be in the grips of an opioid crisis. CDC data shows that opioids were involved in 68,630 overdose deaths in 2020, a number that amounts to 74.8 percent of all drug overdose deaths that year.
Understanding when and where drugs are being used can help inform public health authorities about issues facing communities.
Presenting their findings at the Society for Risk Analysis on December 6, Pagsuyoin and colleagues said they found that a variety of drugs spiked in use during the first few months of the pandemic, with MDMA use increasing by 286 percent. Drug use was also seen to increase during exam periods.
They also found that more fentanyl was used in the research town during this period than in other rural and university settings in the U.S. that had been analyzed previously.
Drugs find their way into the wastewater via the urine of people taking them. "When people take drugs of any kind (medicinal or illicit) only a portion of it is metabolized," Dan Aberg, a wastewater pharmaceutical compounds researcher at Bangor University in the U.K. who was not involved in the Society for Risk Analysis study, told Newsweek. "A percentage of the drug is then released unchanged in the urine. Various intermediate metabolites are also released, some of which are environmentally damaging at certain concentrations."
Drugs can enter the water system via urine.
Use of MDMA in a small town in New England rose by almost 300 percent at the start of the COVID pandemic, along with huge spikes in cocaine, fentanyl and methadone.
Sheree Pagsuyoin, an expert on wastewater monitoring for drugs and COVID-19 at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and her research team had been collecting samples from the town's wastewater twice each month between September 2018 to August 2020, to look for trends in drug use. Samples were tested for morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, methadone, fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine (MDMA), and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA).
There are high rates of consumption and deaths from prescription drugs such as fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, codeine and morphine in New England, with the area being one of the hotspots of the opioid crisis in the U.S., according to one 2019 study in the journal Preventive Medicine.
Delaware had the second highest age-adjusted death rate from opioid overdose of all U.S. states in 2020 at 47.3 per 100,000 people, CDC data shows, with Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine and Connecticut all falling into the top 10 worst-affected states. The highest death rate was found in Kentucky, where there were 49.2 deaths per 100,000 people.
Opioids are responsible for a large number of deaths across the country, with the U.S. considered to be in the grips of an opioid crisis. CDC data shows that opioids were involved in 68,630 overdose deaths in 2020, a number that amounts to 74.8 percent of all drug overdose deaths that year.
Understanding when and where drugs are being used can help inform public health authorities about issues facing communities.
Presenting their findings at the Society for Risk Analysis on December 6, Pagsuyoin and colleagues said they found that a variety of drugs spiked in use during the first few months of the pandemic, with MDMA use increasing by 286 percent. Drug use was also seen to increase during exam periods.
They also found that more fentanyl was used in the research town during this period than in other rural and university settings in the U.S. that had been analyzed previously.
Drugs find their way into the wastewater via the urine of people taking them. "When people take drugs of any kind (medicinal or illicit) only a portion of it is metabolized," Dan Aberg, a wastewater pharmaceutical compounds researcher at Bangor University in the U.K. who was not involved in the Society for Risk Analysis study, told Newsweek. "A percentage of the drug is then released unchanged in the urine. Various intermediate metabolites are also released, some of which are environmentally damaging at certain concentrations."
Drugs can enter the water system via urine.
iStock / Getty Images Plus© iStock / Getty Images Plus
Prescribed and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals can also be detected in the wastewater, as they are also not entirely metabolized by the body.
This latest wastewater research shows that communities may be facing a similar drug usage and overdose issue with stimulant drugs as well. "Our findings reflect the region-wide problem with opioid-related overdoses and increasing stimulant prescription rates," Pagsuyoin said in a statement.
Increased drug use during the pandemic has been documented previously. The CDC found that as of 2020, 13 percent of Americans said that they began taking drugs—or increased their usage— to deal with the emotional impact of the pandemic. Overdosages also increased after the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, with there being an 18 percent increase in overdoses countrywide compared to the same month in 2019.
Similar results were found in a June 2022 study of several Belgian cities published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. This study found that amphetamine use increased in three of the four cities during lockdown, as well as increased cocaine and MDMA use.
Drugs in the water system may also impact other wildlife. When in wastewater, the water is processed before it re-enters circulation via filtration and disinfection, which removes some—but not all—of the drugs dissolved. However, at locations where people may urinate directly onto the ground, such as music festivals, the drugs may directly enter the freshwater system.
A paper published by Aberg and his colleagues in the journal Environmental Research earlier this year revealed that at the site of Glastonbury Festival in the U.K., MDMA was found at concentrations 104 times greater downstream from the festival in comparison to upstream sites, while cocaine and benzoylecgonine were found at 40 times higher concentrations downstream.
The presence of drugs in the natural water system, both from wastewater and freshwater drainage, can result in strange and destructive impacts on the local wildlife.
Platypuses in Australia's contaminated streams ingest over half a daily adult dose of antidepressants. Other serotonin-altering drugs also impact the learning and memory of cuttlefish, cause shore crabs to behave in more "risky" manners, and cause shrimp to be more likely to swim toward a light source.
Stock image of a duck-billed platypus, which can be impacted by drugs in the water system. iStock / Getty Images Plus© iStock / Getty Images Plus
Additionally, the presence of cocaine in waterways has been found to impact European eels in a variety of ways. One study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment found that cocaine accumulates in the brain, muscles, gills, skin, and other tissues of the eels.
"All the main functions of these animals could be altered," Anna Capaldo, a research biologist at the University of Naples Federico II and the lead author of the eel study, told National Geographic in 2018.
More research is required to determine whether illegal drugs are more harmful to wildlife than pharmaceuticals like antidepressants.
"Illicit drugs tend to be more psychoactive than other pharmaceuticals so often require lower concentrations to cause noticeable effects, however due to their legal status research on them is not wide enough to paint an accurate enough picture," Aberg said.
One way to combat the pipeline of drugs from human urine to wildlife would be to increase the purification ability of wastewater treatment. Standard water treatment plants clean wastewater via removing larger clumps of material, filtering and disinfecting the water. If the pores of the filtration system are not small enough to remove the miniscule particles of drugs in the water, they are passed through the system.
"Pharmaceuticals are found in all freshwater ecosystems, as many wastewater treatment plants have poor removal rates for them due to their complexity," Aberg said.
Using a more sophisticated filtration system would enable pharmaceuticals to be completely removed. However, this would likely be very expensive.
Is there a health issue that's worrying you? Do you have a question about drugs or wastewater? Let us know via health@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
References
Pagsuyoin, S., et al. Analysis of wastewater in a New England college town reveals high usage of stimulants and a rise in drug use during the pandemic. Society for Risk Analysis. 2022.
Aberg, D., et al. The environmental release and ecosystem risks of illicit drugs during Glastonbury Festival. Environmental Research, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112061
Stopka, T. J., et al. The opioid epidemic in rural northern New England: An approach to epidemiologic, policy, and legal surveillance. Preventative Medicine. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.05.028
Boogaerts, T., et al. Temporal monitoring of stimulants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium through the analysis of influent wastewater. International Journal of Drug Policy. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103679
Capaldo A., et al. Effects of environmental cocaine concentrations on the skeletal muscle of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Science of the Total Environment, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.357.
Zucatto, E., et al. Illicit drugs, a novel group of environmental contaminants. Water Research, 2008. DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2007.09.010
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Prescribed and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals can also be detected in the wastewater, as they are also not entirely metabolized by the body.
This latest wastewater research shows that communities may be facing a similar drug usage and overdose issue with stimulant drugs as well. "Our findings reflect the region-wide problem with opioid-related overdoses and increasing stimulant prescription rates," Pagsuyoin said in a statement.
Increased drug use during the pandemic has been documented previously. The CDC found that as of 2020, 13 percent of Americans said that they began taking drugs—or increased their usage— to deal with the emotional impact of the pandemic. Overdosages also increased after the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, with there being an 18 percent increase in overdoses countrywide compared to the same month in 2019.
Similar results were found in a June 2022 study of several Belgian cities published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. This study found that amphetamine use increased in three of the four cities during lockdown, as well as increased cocaine and MDMA use.
Drugs in the water system may also impact other wildlife. When in wastewater, the water is processed before it re-enters circulation via filtration and disinfection, which removes some—but not all—of the drugs dissolved. However, at locations where people may urinate directly onto the ground, such as music festivals, the drugs may directly enter the freshwater system.
A paper published by Aberg and his colleagues in the journal Environmental Research earlier this year revealed that at the site of Glastonbury Festival in the U.K., MDMA was found at concentrations 104 times greater downstream from the festival in comparison to upstream sites, while cocaine and benzoylecgonine were found at 40 times higher concentrations downstream.
The presence of drugs in the natural water system, both from wastewater and freshwater drainage, can result in strange and destructive impacts on the local wildlife.
Platypuses in Australia's contaminated streams ingest over half a daily adult dose of antidepressants. Other serotonin-altering drugs also impact the learning and memory of cuttlefish, cause shore crabs to behave in more "risky" manners, and cause shrimp to be more likely to swim toward a light source.
Stock image of a duck-billed platypus, which can be impacted by drugs in the water system. iStock / Getty Images Plus© iStock / Getty Images Plus
Additionally, the presence of cocaine in waterways has been found to impact European eels in a variety of ways. One study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment found that cocaine accumulates in the brain, muscles, gills, skin, and other tissues of the eels.
"All the main functions of these animals could be altered," Anna Capaldo, a research biologist at the University of Naples Federico II and the lead author of the eel study, told National Geographic in 2018.
More research is required to determine whether illegal drugs are more harmful to wildlife than pharmaceuticals like antidepressants.
"Illicit drugs tend to be more psychoactive than other pharmaceuticals so often require lower concentrations to cause noticeable effects, however due to their legal status research on them is not wide enough to paint an accurate enough picture," Aberg said.
One way to combat the pipeline of drugs from human urine to wildlife would be to increase the purification ability of wastewater treatment. Standard water treatment plants clean wastewater via removing larger clumps of material, filtering and disinfecting the water. If the pores of the filtration system are not small enough to remove the miniscule particles of drugs in the water, they are passed through the system.
"Pharmaceuticals are found in all freshwater ecosystems, as many wastewater treatment plants have poor removal rates for them due to their complexity," Aberg said.
Using a more sophisticated filtration system would enable pharmaceuticals to be completely removed. However, this would likely be very expensive.
Is there a health issue that's worrying you? Do you have a question about drugs or wastewater? Let us know via health@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
References
Pagsuyoin, S., et al. Analysis of wastewater in a New England college town reveals high usage of stimulants and a rise in drug use during the pandemic. Society for Risk Analysis. 2022.
Aberg, D., et al. The environmental release and ecosystem risks of illicit drugs during Glastonbury Festival. Environmental Research, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112061
Stopka, T. J., et al. The opioid epidemic in rural northern New England: An approach to epidemiologic, policy, and legal surveillance. Preventative Medicine. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.05.028
Boogaerts, T., et al. Temporal monitoring of stimulants during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium through the analysis of influent wastewater. International Journal of Drug Policy. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103679
Capaldo A., et al. Effects of environmental cocaine concentrations on the skeletal muscle of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Science of the Total Environment, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.357.
Zucatto, E., et al. Illicit drugs, a novel group of environmental contaminants. Water Research, 2008. DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2007.09.010
Related Articles
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