Episode 20 - Sewage tells tales about community-wide drug abuse

Public health officials may soon be able to flush out more accurate estimates on illegal drug use in communities across the country thanks to a new screening test. The test does not screen people directly but instead seeks out evidence of illicit drug abuse in drug residues and metabolites excreted in urine and flushed toward municipal sewage treatment plants. It will be described in August during the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.