Spanish air is laced with cocaine

AIR pollution has long been a fact of life in Spanish cities, but scientists now say it is not just smog that chokes people as they walk to work or stroll through the park.

A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is also laced with at least five drugs – most prominently cocaine.

The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a government institute, said on its website yesterday that in addition to cocaine, they found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid – a relative of LSD – in two air-quality control stations, one in each city.