Dave's not here man...
Posted on 05/31/2007 9:40:06 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
ROME (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Italy's capital, they said on Thursday.
The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome's Sapienza university, though the National Research Council's Dr. Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students' recreational habits.
Calling their study "the first in the world to show the presence of particles of cocaine suspended in the atmosphere of the city," the researchers said they took samples in Rome, the southern city of Taranto and in Algiers in North Africa.
Nicotine and caffeine were detected in all three, "showing how widespread consumption of these substances is and how they remain in the atmosphere," state-funded CNR said in a statement.
The concentration of cocaine in Rome's atmosphere was only 0.1 nanogrammes (1 nanogramme is one billionth of a gramme) per cubic metre at its height during winter months, the researchers said. But the conclusions were worrying for public health.
"It is well documented that even small concentrations in the air of these pollutants can seriously damage health," said Dr. Ivo Allegrini of the CNR's Institute for Atmospheric Pollution.
This explains a lot about Italians.
>> The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome’s Sapienza university, though the National Research Council’s Dr. Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students’ recreational habits.
Riiiight... don’t be drawing the obvious conclusion, now.
Of course, maybe it’s NOT the students... maybe it’s the commie hippy pinko professors!
(But the drinking water there was excellent.)
Cocaine, marijuana, caffeine and tobacco all free in the air, Rome must be the party capital of Europe.
Several of them, I should think.
Wasn’t that the forecast for Hawaii on 12/7/41?
Are students freebasing Nodoze these days or what?
Probably explains a lot about the mythology of cocain and tobacco using Pharaohs
You should see Naples. I was a little put off by all the graffiti but if you want to see a real mess go to Naples.
Wow, they should find out what’s drifting around Napoli.
“People don’t know the value!”
So the graffiti isn’t like Barcelona? There’s some amatuer-ish political stuff, but in certain areas of town there are walls dedicated to ‘graffiti’ that are actually very well done and fit with the artistic styling of the city. The stuff usually looks terrible which is why I was surprised to enjoy it in Barcelona.
Dave's not here man...
Haven't been to Barcelona yet but it was definitely not art in Rome. Still though it wasn't as bad a Naples where the scrawling is done even on magnificent old churches and no one bothers to clean it off.
This article is meaningless without some sort of reference points. How do these numbers compare with the amount of carbon monoxide, or cleaning solvents, or amonia, or a thousand other substances?
“...if you want to see a real mess go to Naples.”
Man, you aren’t kidding. What a dump.
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