Nanograms from cocaine?

Question

My daughter was arrested for probation violation. Her lawyer told me she has a severely high nanogram levels and that she has a serious problem. My daughter (I believe her) told me she only did it 1 time. The lawyer says they found 900 nanograms in her blood and that was indicative of a long time user. I found on the interet that 1 nanogram was 1 billion less than a microgram or something like that. I don't understand all this science stuff, can anyone tell me if I really should believe my daughter or if she is a addict?

Answer 1

900 nano grams is so small its not even really noticeable

like its 0.000000000900 g is the equilvant.. (if i have my placement right nano i think is 10^ -9 (ten with a negative 9 exponent)

so yes i would side with your daughter and not the lawyer..

Answer 2

A nanogram is a billionth of a gram. That's not a lot.
What they found is a certain amount of nanograms in your daughters blood.
However, they did not remove all her blood; they took a sample.
From that they calculated the amount of nanograms per ... litre? Millilitre?
That I don't know.
Suppose it's per litre, and she has 5 litres of blood... then she had 900 times 5 = 4500 nanograms in her blood.

Again, is that much?

Compare it to drinking achohol. Your intoxication-level is measured in prommilles, NOT in the actual amount of drinks you've had.
Below 0.5 promille is in many countries the legal limit for driving a car.
But a big heavy person can have that after 3 drinks, a skinny person can have 0.5 promille after 1 drink, and the heavy person can have 6 drinks and wait a couple of hours and be at 0.5 promille.

You get the picture? You can't tell how much your daughter has used because her bodyweight and the time elapsed since she's used it both change the outcome of the reading, just like what happens with alcohol.

My advice is: Your daugher is obviously trying to play this down. She will tell you "It wasn't a lot and it was the only time ever, scout's honour".
So, has she used? Definitely.
Fortunately, using and being addicted are two different things - at the moment. If your daughter keeps this up, they could become the same.
Read up on this, tell your daughter she's crossed the line, and consider getting help.

On talking to/with your daughter: The more you let your anger out, the less information you will get and the less helpful she will be.
Might I suggest you don't look at her as a child for the duration of a conversation, and ask her everything that comes to mind.
Ask her for information, not about what she's done.
Not 'where did you buy it', why did you do it and Don't You Know How Dissapointed I Am.

Try:
'Where would one get it' 'is it expensive' 'what is the effect' 'what does someone feel when they take it' 'are people embarrased to use it in front of each other or do they encourage each other' 'has she seen people taking crack - is crack available as easy as coke' - that sort of thing.

Ask her for her personal opinion. Does she think it's addictive?
Two tips: Cocaine is considered to be mentally addictive, much more than physically. That is, people want to take it because it makes them feel good; not taking it does not give physical withdrawel symptoms.
And crack or meth are reasons to be scared.

Answer 3

Cocaine would seem in the urine for under some hours, yet straight away metabolizes (biologically alterations) into benzoylecgonine. hence, the detection of benzoylecgonine in urine is extensively used to evaluate cocaine utilization. Cocaine utilization would properly be detected via a urine drug try or a saliva drug try interior of 8 hours after use and continues to be detectable for extra or less 3 days after the final dose.

Answer 4

You daughter is lying. Trust me....I used to be 16 and I also used to do drugs!!! And I also have a mother....your daughter is lying