Drug money. (cocaine traces on paper money)

Economist (US), The, April, 1989

Drug money

CASH and cocaine go together like Armani suits and designer stubble. Paper currency is used to buy and sell cocaine, and sometimes to ingest it as well. This might seem like a handy clue for cops: seize the money, find traces of cocaine on it, and thus infer that the owner was up to no good.

But it turns out that, as evidence of crime, cocaine on money has to be treated with great caution. Dr Lee Hearn, the chief toxicologist for the Dade County Medical Examiner in Miami, found traces of cocaine in each of seven batches of about 75 $20 bills taken from banks around Miami. Miami - no surprise. But, following up his initial research, Mr Hearn took 135 bills, in denominations from $1 to $100, from banks in 12 cities. To his astonishment, 131...

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