The Only Time the Cocaine in Your Wallet Won’t Get You Arrested

Don’t assume you’ve never touched cocaine. It’s right in your wallet if you have cash in it. Statistically, <a href="https://www.acs.org/pressroom/newsreleases/2009/august/new-study-up-to-90-percent-of-us-paper-money-contains-traces-of-cocaine.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">90% of US dollar bills</a> in large American and Canadian cities have cocaine on them. It’s a fun fact that raises awareness about a serious problem. <h2>How Cocaine Lands on Dollar Bills</h2> The United Nations says the world manufactures <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/cocaine/Global_cocaine_report_2023.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">2,000 tons of cocaine</a> annually. There’re <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/many-u-s-dollar-bills-circulation/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">40 billion dollar bills</a> in circulation. Surely they come into contact with one another? But you can’t assume that random contact contaminates 90% of the bills. You may remember Hollywood movies where people snort cocaine through dollar bills. It’s a missed shot too. There’re not so many drug addicts. The reason cocaine lands on dollar bills is the illegal drug trade. The dealers don’t accept payments by bank transfers. They use cash. The dealers’ fingers touch the cocaine and then the money. Cocaine particles are tiny, about a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3353436/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">micrometer in diameter</a>. You can’t see them with the naked eye when they’re isolated. <a href="https://medium.com/practice-in-public/the-only-time-the-cocaine-in-your-wallet-wont-get-you-arrested-398723e10b1b">Learn More</a>