Methamphetamine Use Pattern In Holidays At A Typical City Of Northeast China

Drug use is a serious issue to human health,economic development,and social stability.Assessment of drug use play a vital role in drug controlling.Wastewater-based epidemiology(WBE)is a new method to monitor drug use in recent years.It has the advantages of low cost,accuracy,convenience,objectivity and close to real-time monitoring.Although our country has carried out surveillance research on drugs WBE,there is a lack of research on the changing trend in holidays.In this study,Yingkou,was selected as a typical city in northeast China to collect influent from the wastewater treatment plant(WWTP)during the holidays of 2018 and 2019,to determine the concentrations of methamphetamine and to investigate the trend of methamphetamine use on holidays in China.Influent samples were collected on holidays(Mid-Autumn Festival,National Day,New Year's Day,Spring Festival,Tomb Sweeping Festival,and Labor Day)in 2018 and 2019.Based on the analysis of ammonia nitrogen,chemical oxygen demand,and total phosphorus parameters in influent,it was established population prediction model based on three parameters,which could reduce the single parameter affected by exogenous sources.The multi-parameter population showed that the maximum number of sewage treatment plants serving during Labor Day is 530,000,the minimum number of service people during National Day is 400,000,and the number of service people on working days is 470,000.The population in the middle of two seven-day long holidays is the lowest,which indicates that the travelling of the population has certain regularity and the smallest population in the middle of the holidays.Methamphetamine was detected in all influent collected during holidays and working days from 2018 to 2019.The concentrations ranged from 123 ng/L to 847 ng/L with an average concentration of 347±167 ng/L.The concentration of methamphetamine was highest during the Spring Festival,which was significantly higher than that during other holidays and working days(p<0.01).The consumption of methamphetamine(459 mg/d/1000 people)during the Spring Festival holidays was higher than all holidays(298 mg/d/1000 people)and working days(240 mg/d/1000 people).The prevalence rate in Yingkou was 0.87±0.41%and 1.46%during the Spring Festival.The number of methamphetamine users in Yingkou showed that the users were lowest during New Year's Day(11,839 people)and were highest during the Spring Festival(35,511 people).Compared with 8,000 registered drug users in Yingkou,the average number of actual drug users is about 2.5 times the number of registered drug users.Through this study,we found that there are some changes in drug use during holidays,especially during the Spring Festival.In order to comprehensively reflect the drug use in a region,monitoring should be done on holidays and working days.On the basis of monitoring,the government can make comprehensive prevention and control measures and policies for drug trafficking and drug use.