Scientists suggest cocaine consumption is much higher than previously thought after finding large amounts of cocaine by-product in a Northern Italian river.

The River Po is found to contain the equivalent of nearly 8.8 pounds of cocaine, daily.

The study estimates daily consumption to be about 27 doses per 1,000 young adults.

The tested chemical, benzoylecgonine (BE), arrived via the sewage system from the urine of drug users. It cannot be produced by any other means, expect as a by-product of cocaine.

Scientists write in the Web journal Environmental Health, the cocaine carried in the Po River each year would amount to a street value of $150 million.

Figures indicate 40,000 doses of cocaine per day for the region.