DEA instructions for testing bills for cocaine

Cory Doctorow 6:45 pm Mon Oct 21, 2013

Michael from Muckrock sez, "Here's a science experiment that would catch the attention of high schoolers: Testing cash for cocaine traces in seven easy steps, courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Agency."

In addition to being a great way to instruct kids in proper titration technique, converting between various metric measurement units, and evaporating solvents, the DEA case is a great example in the need to exercise caution in examining noise in empirical evidence: The DEA lab ultimately advised scrapping money testing altogether since 30 percent of one sample study of "clean" money turned up a positive.

Is there a bump in your bill? Here's how the DEA tested money for cocaine — and why they stopped

(Thanks, Michael!)

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