Almost 90% Of US Paper Money Has Traces Of Cocaine

Filed in the folder marked “facts most people would never imagine” is the news that nearly nine out of ten bills in the US are contaminated with cocaine.

Data released by the American Chemical Society says that “cocaine is present in up to 90 percent of paper money in the United States, particularly in large cities such as Baltimore, Boston, and Detroit. The scientists found traces of cocaine in 95 percent of the banknotes analyzed from Washington, D.C., alone.”

Many of those bills were used at some point to actually take cocaine, but many were contaminated by being bundled with tainted bills.

The problem is growing rapidly. Two years ago, the number was 67%.

The information raises the opportunity for law enforcement agencies to use the traces of the substance to track the international movement of drugs. Most large transactions for products like cocaine and heroine are done in cash. The flow of illicit drugs has been nearly impossible to trace. That may have changed in just the last year or so.

Douglas A. McIntyre