From: [v--d--t] at [ucs.umass.edu] (Sol Lightman)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Dectectable Cocaine in money
Date: 19 Apr 1993 22:19:40 GMT

Reprinted by permission from the 'Pittsburgh Press'

PRESUMED GUILTY

Copyright, 1991, The Pittsburgh Press Co.
By Andrew Schneider and Mary Pat Flaherty
The Pittsburgh Press
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DRUGS CONTAMINATE NEARLY ALL THE MONEY IN AMERICA

     Police seize money from thousands of people each year because a dog with a
badge sniffs, barks or paws to show that bills are tainted with drugs.

     If a police officer picks you out as a likely drug courier, the dog is
used to confirm that your money has the smell of drugs.

     But scientists say the test the police rely on is no test at all because
drugs contaminate virtually all the currency in America.

     Over a seven-year period, Dr. Jay Poupko and his colleagues at Toxicology
Consultants Inc. in Miami have repeatedly tested currency in Austin, Dallas,
Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, New York City, Pittsburgh, Seattle and
Syracuse. He also tested American bills in London.

     "An average of 96 percent of all the bills we analyzed from the 11 cities
tested positive for cocaine. I don't think any rational thinking person can
dispute that almost all the currency in this country is tainted with drugs,"
Poupko says.

     Scientists at National Medical Services, in Willow Grove, Pa., who tested
money from banks and other legal sources more than a dozen times, consistently
found cocaine on more than 80 percent of the bills.

     "Cocaine is very adhesive and easily transferable," says Vincent Cordova,
director of criminalistics for the private lab. "A police officer, pharmacist,
toxicologist or anyone else who handles cocaine, including drug traffickers,
can shake hands with someone, who eventually touches money, and the
contamination process begins."

     Cordova and other scientists use gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy,
precise alcohol washes and a dozen other sophisticated techniques to identify
the presence of narcotics down to the nanogram level one billionth of a gram.
That measure, which is far less than a pin point, is the same level a dog can
detect with a sniff.

     What a drug dog cannot do, which the scientists can, is quantify the
amount of drugs on the bills.

     Half of the money Cordova examined had levels of cocaine at or above 9
nanograms. This level means the bills were either near a source of cocaine or
were handled by someone who touched the drug, he says.

     Another 30 percent of the bills he examined show levels below 9 nanograms,
which indicates "the bills were probably in a cash drawer, wallet or some
place where they came in contact with money previously contaminated."

     The lab's research found $20 bills are most highly contaminated, with $10
and $5 bills next. The $1, $50 and $100 bill usually have the lowest cocaine
levels.

     Cordova urges restraint in linking possession of contaminated money to a
criminal act.

     "Police aid prosecutors have got to use caution in how far they go. The
presence of cocaine on bills cannot be used as valid proof that the holder of
the money, or the bills themselves, have ever been in direct contact with
drugs," says Cordova, who spent II years directing the Philadelphia Police
crime laboratory.

     Nevertheless, more and more drug dogs are being put to work.

     Some agencies, like the U.S. Customs Service, are using passive dogs that
don't rip into an item or person - when the dogs find something during a
search. These dogs just sit and wag their tails. German shepherds with names
like Killer and Rambo are being replaced by Labradors named Bruce or Memphis'
"Chocolate Mousse."

     Marijuana presents its own problems for dogs since its very pungent smell
is long-lasting. Trainers have testified that drug dogs can react to clothing,
containers or cars months after marijuana has been removed.

     A 1989 case in Richmond, Va., addressed the issue of how reliable dogs are
in marijuana searches.

     Jack Adams, a special agent with the Virginia State Police, supervised
training of drug dogs for the state.

     He said the odor from a single suitcase filled with marijuana and placed
with 100 other bags in a closed Amtrak baggage car in Miami could permeate all
the other bags in the car by the time the train reached Richmond.

     And what happens to the mountain of "drug-contaminated" dollars the
government seizes each year? The bills aren't burned, cleaned, or stored in a
well-guarded warehouse.

     Twenty-one seizing agencies questioned all said the tainted money was
deposited in a local bank - which means it's back in circulation.

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And they wonder why I drag my feet getting a job....

Brian


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