Who is Getting High in Europe (Follow Up)?

I recently reviewed a study of the epidemiology of drug use in Europe. 

This original post can be found here. 

This study examined patterns of levels for specific drugs of abuse in waste water.

One finding I found interesting was the geographic distribution for the stimulants including cocaine, amphetamine and methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine levels in waste water were highest in Czech Republic, a nation not found on any other top drug level lists. Slovakia came in fourth in methamphetamine levels.

I followed up on this finding using the Google tool called Google Trends. I also have previously posted on the potential for using Google Trends to track drug use and interest geographically here.

Google Trends calculates a relative index for search terms by country. Unfortunately, Google Trends does not allow for limiting searches to Europe. But with a worldwide search, you get the following map for a search for methamphetamine (prescription drug subcategory):

Czech Republic comes up fifth on the worldwide regional interest for methamphetamine search while Slovakia places seventh.  The U.S., Guam and New Zealand were 1, 2 and 3. Australia was fourth and Canada sixth.

The Czech Republic has been known to have had a problem with large numbers of methamphetamine labs that have been shut down and the use of pseudoephedrine imported from Poland for methamphetamine manufacture (Wikipedia).

Neither Czech Republic or Slovakia come up in regional interest for amphetamine or cocaine. This was also found in the waste water survey.

This Google Trend result supports the validity of the waste water study of Ort et al and the geographic regional variation in pattern, type and level of drug use and abuse. 

Changes in waste water concentrations of specific drugs like methamphetamine may be a valuable way to monitor effectiveness of public health intervention efforts

Molecular model is methamphetamine from a Wikipedia Commons File authored by sbrools.

Follow the author on Twitter WRY999.

Ort C, van Nuijs AL, Berset JD, Bijlsma L, Castiglioni S, Covaci A, de Voogt P, Emke E, Fatta-Kassinos D, Griffiths P, Hernández F, González-Mariño I, Grabic R, Kasprzyk-Hordern B, Mastroianni N, Meierjohann A, Nefau T, Ostman M, Pico Y, Racamonde I, Reid M, Slobodnik J, Terzic S, Thomaidis N, & Thomas KV (2014). Spatial differences and temporal changes in illicit drug use in Europe quantified by wastewater analysis. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 109 (8), 1338-52 PMID: 24861844