Money is a pretty grubby thing. The average paper bill passes through hundreds of hands in the course of its lifespan, traveling from hand to hand, stuffed in socks or wallets, and generally just mistreated. After all, it remains in circulation for almost two years on average, so it’s only a matter of course that the cash gets unclean, as it were. Experts say 90% of all paper money in the United States is contaminated with cocaine.
I think we’ve all seen a movie in which some rich person from the 80’s rolls up a paper bill and snorts a line off a mirror. So, it’s only fitting that higher denomination bills are more likely to be contaminated, given that if you’re going to show off, you’re going to use a big bill. Granted, not every bill has been used in drug usage, but money is very easily contaminated and they say a lot of the contamination is spread via money counting machines at the bank, unless you live in South America.
Pretty much any mention of cocaine makes me think of music, mostly because of classic songs like Casey Jones by the Grateful Dead, White Lines by Grandmaster Melle Mel, and of course, Cocaine Blues by Johnny Cash. Now the version playing in this video, from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is the Duran Duran cover, but the original version doesn’t have puppets.
Tags: cocaine, drugs, money contaminated by drugs, white lines, craig ferguson, puppets, cocaine on money
