Drug money. Literally.

[trof]

UAB study finds cocaine residue on more than half $1 bills surveyed
Monday, January 12, 2009
HANNAH WOLFSON
News staff writer

As much as 65 percent of $1 bills in the Birmingham area could be contaminated with trace amounts of cocaine, according to a set of experiments conducted by forensic science students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The students tested different methods of measuring the amount of cocaine on money. They looked at 40 $1 bills - half collected from a Regions Bank and half from a Wachovia branch - and found that the more effective testing method revealed 65 percent had cocaine on them. Professor Elizabeth Gardner, who oversaw the research, said the figure matches tests other students conducted in her class with individual $1 bills collected from stores and restaurants around the Birmingham area.

More comprehensive data collected in other cities usually finds between 80 and 90 percent contamination, she said, although those studies usually use higher-denomination bills.

"I have talked to people who say that basically 100 percent of currency is contaminated and if you get any negatives, it's in dollar bills," Gardner said.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/metro.ssf?/base/news/1231751771301570.xml&coll=2