|
 Alison Holcomb, who is also an American Civil Liberties Union
attorney, said wastewater analysis for psychoactive THC could
provide policymakers crucial data at a time of sweeping shifts in
marijuana policy in U.S. states and cities.
"Using wastewater data to actually get a baseline of what drug use
looks like in various communities over time can help us develop more
sound drug policies," Holcomb told Reuters. "It's too easy for
surveys to be skewed."
Holcomb's suggestion came at the Spokane City Council's marijuana
policy committee meeting on Tuesday, she said.
The panel of educators, law enforcement and lawmaking officials were
seeking input on how to measure cannabis use, including by minors,
and the growth of marijuana tourism, among other data, Holcomb said.
She said the analysis could be similarly applied to test other
harder drugs and how isolated population segments react to policy
shifts, but it should not target individuals or replace traditional
surveys, which can provide more granular demographic data.
The United States has become a patchwork of local cannabis laws as
voters in two states have sanctioned its recreational use and other
states and cities increasingly allow medicinal use, while marijuana
remains illegal under federal law.
Policymakers may find themselves walking a fine line between seeking
to maximize pot tax revenue and ensuring public safety and
compliance nearly three months after cannabis retail shops opened in
Washington. They opened in Colorado earlier this year.
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Holcomb said Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia could use
the testing methods, including freezing feces for later analysis, as
they weigh legalizing recreational marijuana in upcoming votes.
She cited research that found deviations between self-reported
levels of drug use and the measured amounts in sewage, and
University of Puget Sound researchers who used such analysis to
confirm reported increases of amphetamine use by students during
times of high academic stress.
Spokane's sewage has not been tested for THC, but wastewater
director Dale Arnold said he would check with a lab on the
proposal's viability, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.
"A large portion of that wastewater doesn't come out of human
beings," he said, according to the Spokesman-Review.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Cynthia Osterman and Ken Wills)
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