In a recent study conducted by the American Chemical Society (ACS), it was discovered that between 85 and 90 percent of the paper money in the United States showed traces of cocaine. Seem amazing? Well it should. But while this does indicate that the majority of the citizens in the U.S. are technically carrying cocaine in their wallet, purse etc, the real scary fact here is the indication of how huge a problem cocaine truly is throughout the United States and in fact the world.

We here about cocaine being a widespread problem in many forms. We hear about large scale cocaine busts in nearby areas and cocaine overdose issues in our local hospital, but how big does the problem have to be if nearly 90 % of the paper money in the United States has been in contact with cocaine leaving traces of the drug behind?

Roughly 19 billion notes ranging from a $100 denomination to a $2 dollar denomination are in circulation at this time. This means that over 17 billion individual pieces of paper currency have come into direct contact with cocaine during its circulatory lifetime. Again, the magnitude of the cocaine addiction problem currently facing our nation must be even more massive and far reaching than is usually thought for this amount of our money to be “touching” cocaine during its relatively short lifespan of circulation.

Cocaine addiction experts say this contact with cocaine stems primarily from a variety of methods including the use of paper currency to “snort” the drug or inhale it in its powder form,  the presence of large quantities of money in and around major drug scenes where tons of cocaine is either being processed or packaged, residue from the fingers and hands of those addicted to cocaine leaving their residuals behind during a cocaine purchase where both parties the seller and purchaser have the substance on their hands, and storage of the bills in direct contact with cocaine either for shipment over sees or in police lock ups.

Clearly this nation is underestimating the magnitude of the cocaine problems we still face and more needs to be done to fully address the size of cocaine addiction problems we have. With 3 percent or less of those who have become addicted to drugs like cocaine actually receiving the treatment needed to stop the demand for their drugs of choice, there will likely continue to be an overwhelming rise in the number of innocent bystanders who become prey for cocaine dealers and drug dealer in general.  The time is now to step up and truly confront the cocaine addiction issues that plague our nation.

~ excerpted from article by Megan Thorpe