Consumption of common illicit drugs in twenty-one cities in southwest China through wastewater analysis

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) was applied to estimate illicit drugs consumption at a provincial scale in southwest China. A large-scale wastewater sampling campaign was carried out from October to November in 2021 in 156 different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Two 24-h composite influent wastewater samples were collected in each WWTP. Concentrations of 11 illicit drugs or their metabolites were determined using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Benzoylecgonine, cocaine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, norketamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and MDA were not detected in any of the wastewater samples. Methamphetamine and morphine were detected in >84% of samples, while ketamine was found in about 6% of the samples. The city-specific population-weighted consumption of methamphetamine and ketamine were in the range of 0.6–49.7 and N.D.-7.0 mg 1000 inh−1 day−1, respectively, with provincial population-weighted values of 22.6 and 2.4 mg 1000 inh−1 day−1 in southwest China. The city-specific load of morphine varied from 3.2 to 10.2 mg 1000 inh−1 day−1, with provincial population-weighted load of 6.7 mg 1000 inh−1 day−1. Taking into account therapeutic use of morphine and codeine, the provincial heroin consumption was estimated to be 10.3 mg 1000 inh−1 day−1, ranging from 1.7 to 18.5 mg 1000 inh−1 day−1 in 21 cities. Overall, the patterns of illicit drugs use were similar across southwest China, with high prevalence of methamphetamine and heroin, but relatively low use of ketamine. These findings could provide accurate drugs consumption information for timely identifying potential hotspots of illicit drugs use in southwest China.