YOU'RE LIKELY TO INHALE COCAINE WITH A SNORT ... ER, SNIFF ... OF ROME'S AIR

ROME - Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana,
as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Italy's capital, they
said yesterday.

The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome's
Sapienza university, though the National Research Council's Dr.
Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students'
recreational habits.

The students better pray Pope Benedict doesn't read the report.

Calling their study "the first in the world to show the presence of
particles of cocaine suspended in the atmosphere of the city," the
researchers said they took samples in Rome, the southern city of
Taranto and in Algiers in North Africa.

Nicotine and caffeine were detected in all three, "showing how
widespread consumption of these substances is and how they remain in
the atmosphere," the state-funded research council said in a statement.

The concentration of cocaine in Rome's atmosphere was only 0.1
nanograms (one nanogram is one billionth of a gram) per cubic metre
at its height during winter months, the researchers said. But the
conclusions were worrying for public health.

"It is well-documented that even small concentrations in the air of
these pollutants can seriously damage health," said Dr. Ivo Allegrini
of the council's Institute for Atmospheric Pollution.