Analysis of Currency for Cocaine Contamination

ABSTRACTCurrency is often seized in drug investigations and increasingly under Section 312 of the Criminal Code, Possession of Property Obtained By Crime. Analysis for cocaine on seized currency could provide important evidence when compared to representative or background currency samples from the offence area. In this study samples obtained from the Bank of Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan, were analyzed quantitatively by gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus detection or gas chromatography/mass frag- mentography (GC/MF). Cocaine was present at background levels of less than 10 nanograms per note. In comparison, case samples were grossly contaminated with cocaine in the range from 50 to over 1000 times the background levels determined for Sasktachewan.