# Dollar Bills, Drugs, and Anime. An appeal to Cecil

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-bills-drugs-and-anime-an-appeal-to-cecil/985220>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 8, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-bills-drugs-and-anime-an-appeal-to-cecil/985220 "2023-06-08T19:01:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2023, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-bills-drugs-and-anime-an-appeal-to-cecil/985220/1 "2023-06-08T19:01:11Z")

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A lot of currency contains trace amounts of cocaine and other illegal drugs. . People use bills in order to snort cocaine and heroin. In 1994, it was claimed (my memory fails me as to where) that a large percentage of dollar bills in Los Angeles contain trace amounts of cocaine.

Recently, I ran across an Anime video in the _Lupin the 3rd_ franchise, in which a female character crumples up a Japanese banknote, stuffs it into a bong, and smokes it.  
**My Question : Could this result in a high?**  
Side note #1–I seem to recall that Japanese banknotes were at one time printed on mulberry paper.  
Side Note #2 link to a clip from the Anime.  
[Lupin The 3rd Clip.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPUzhKjsnBM&ab_channel=ApeTrvpVisuals%E7%8C%BF)

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-bills-drugs-and-anime-an-appeal-to-cecil/985220/2 "2023-06-08T20:10:37Z")

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Here’s a 2009 study that did it right.

> **[New study: Up to 90 percent of U.S. paper money contains traces of cocaine -...](https://www.acs.org/pressroom/newsreleases/2009/august/new-study-up-to-90-percent-of-us-paper-money-contains-traces-of-cocaine.html)**
>
> American Chemical Society: Chemistry for Life.

When they say “traces” of cocaine they mean traces. The largest amounts were 1 or 2 milligrams. Still, the authors are scientifically cautious.

> Despite the high percentage of cocaine-contaminated banknotes, Zuo points out that the amount of cocaine found on most notes was so small that consumers should not have any health or legal concerns about handling paper money.
> 
> “For the most part, you can’t get high by sniffing a regular banknote, unless it was used directly in drug uptake or during a drug exchange,” Zuo said.

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-bills-drugs-and-anime-an-appeal-to-cecil/985220/3 "2023-06-13T19:30:59Z")

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But we were not discussing sniffing, but smoking.

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dollar-bills-drugs-and-anime-an-appeal-to-cecil/985220/4 "2023-06-13T19:44:51Z")

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Does smoking create extra milligrams of cocaine by some process I’m not aware of?

Side note: In real life mulberry paper is not used for [Japanese banknotes](https://www.npb.go.jp/en/intro/tokutyou/index.html).