(Pee) testing the waters

I wonder how much this is going to cost the taxpayers? Following the lead of some European countries, THE ONDCP is undertaking a massive peek into the culmative pee of the residents of Virginia. Fairfax County, among others, agreed to "participate in a White House pilot program to analyze wastewater from communities throughout the Potomac River Basin for the urinary byproducts of cocaine." A large sampling has already been sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Rockville.

I don't have any great objection to this outside of the cost, but one has to wonder what they hope to gain by compling this data. The other countries who have already done these studies discovered drug use was vastly underestimated. Surely the ONDCP can't believe drug use is overreported here so any data they glean is likely to reflect that drug use is much greater than they have repeatedly stated. It will surely debunk their contention that all the billions they've spent to eliminate drug use has resulted in any kind of meaningful decline.

I suppose they're hoping to fall back on the fear factor, pointing out how large the numbers really are in an attempt to justify their continued operations and ask for increased funding. I can hear Souder now, screeching about the "new" cocaine epidemic...

[hat tip JackL]