Cocaine in sharks

MARINE researchers have discovered a high concentration of cocaine in the liver and muscle tissues of sharpnose sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They attributed this to the heavy use of cocaine among addicts in Brazil, with the drug's runoff being flushed into toilets, drainage systems, waterways, and eventually into the world's seas and oceans.

In 2021, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released its annual World Drug Report, which stated that there were 22 million cocaine users worldwide, 4.84 million of whom were from the South American region. It also claimed that the massive proliferation of cocaine production and its use persisted despite global efforts to curtail it. It reached epic proportions to the extent that millions of cocaine drug users had spilled their illegal substance into oceans and seas through their urine and excrement. The cocaine residue ended up in the bellies of fishes and marine species like mollusks, crustaceans and eels. Sharks that ingested cocaine had become hyperactive and a threat to humans. Aside from wastewater being contaminated by the said drug, another way that cocaine ends up in our oceans is when crime syndicates dump cocaine along coastlines when they are about to be caught by law enforcers. Drug traffickers would also wrap cocaine in water-proof plastic materials and offload them into the water to be recovered by their distributors.