In a turn of events that seems more akin to a B-movie plotline than real life, scientists are now investigating whether sharks off the Florida coast are feasting on bales of hallucinogenic drugs discarded by drug traffickers.

If you’re shaking your head in disbelief, trust me, you’re not alone.

The Discovery network’s upcoming Shark Week will feature a program titled “Cocaine Sharks” – a name as bewildering as the reality it represents.

But this isn’t just a bid for shock-value entertainment.

As Dr. Tracy Fanara, a Florida-based environmental engineer and lead researcher, explains, the show aims to shed light on a significant and often overlooked problem: the pollution of our natural water bodies with all manner of substances, from the mundane to the illicit.

Drugs like cocaine, methamphetamines, and ketamine are ending up in our waterways, affecting marine life in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

More details below:

This shocking revelation isn’t just about drug-fueled sharks. It’s a stark reminder of how our actions – and the policies that govern them – affect the environment.

This story of “Cocaine Sharks” raises serious questions about the escalation of the drug problem under the Biden administration.

It’s time to dive deeper into this unusual tale that highlights how reality can indeed be stranger than fiction.

Here’s what The Guardian had to say:

Move over, Cocaine Bear. Here come cocaine sharks.

In what could be the plotline for the next cheesy marine-themed disaster movie, scientists think crazed and hungry sharks could be feasting on bales of hallucinatory drugs dumped off the Florida coast.

Yet while Cocaine Sharks – a highlight of Discovery’s upcoming Shark Week – does indeed examine if the ocean predators are chomping on floating pharmaceuticals cast overboard by passing traffickers, marine scientists who made the TV program say its purpose is beyond gratuitous entertainment.

“It’s a catchy headline to shed light on a real problem, that everything we use, everything we manufacture, everything we put into our bodies, ends up in our wastewater streams and natural water bodies, and these aquatic life we depend on to survive are then exposed to that,” said Dr Tracy Fanara, a Florida-based environmental engineer and lead member of the research team.

“We’ve seen studies with pharmaceuticals, cocaine, methamphetamines, ketamine, all of these, where fish are being [affected] by drugs.

“If these cocaine bales are a point source of pollution, it’s very plausible [sharks] can be affected by this chemical. Cocaine is so soluble that any of those packages open just a little, the structural integrity is destroyed and the drug is in the water.”

Cocaine Sharks is expected to be among the biggest draws of Shark Week, the Discovery network’s popular annual showcase of the species from great whites, hammerheads and tiger sharks down to the smallest varieties.

It seems the unthinkable has happened – sharks off Florida’s coast are believed to have ingested cocaine left in the water by drug smugglers, in a grim testament to the scale of the drug crisis in the US.

This revelation is no cheap gimmick for a Discovery Channel documentary, but an alarming indication of how illicit substances are polluting our waterways and potentially wreaking havoc on our delicate marine ecosystems.

But the question is: Why do drug smugglers feel safe coming here?

Why isn’t the Biden administration doing more about the drug crisis?

Drug smuggling operations, largely originating from South and Central America, have seen colossal bricks of cocaine washed ashore on Florida’s beaches for years.

In their hurry to evade authorities, smugglers have frequently dumped these bales at sea, leaving them for others to collect or, in this case, for marine wildlife to stumble upon.

Make no mistake – this could be deadly for the residents and tourists of Florida.

The real question, however, is not just about the audacity of drug smugglers but the worrying state of affairs under the current administration.

With a problem of such magnitude staring us in the face, why isn’t more being done by President Biden to tackle the escalating drug crisis in the country?

After all, it’s not just the human population that’s suffering the consequences – our marine life is now literally swimming in it.

Fox News confirms:

Thousands of sharks off Florida’s coast may have ingested bales of cocaine left in the water by drug smugglers attempting to get their product into the U.S.

Marine biologist Tom Hird wanted to examine whether the sharks have come into contact with the drug, which is the subject of a documentary that will premiere on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week called “Cocaine Sharks.”

“The deeper story here is the way that chemicals, pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs are entering our waterways — entering our oceans — and what effect that they then could go on to have on these delicate ocean ecosystems,” Hird, known as “The Blowfish,” told Live Science.

Large bricks of cocaine from South and Central America have washed ashore on Florida beaches for decades. The huge bales are often dumped at sea and picked up by drug smugglers on boats.

If something isn’t done about this now, then it will just keep happening.

Smugglers will keep coming – and they will keep throwing cocaine into the ocean, if they’re afraid of getting caught.

This is not only terrible for the environment and local ecosystem, but this poses a threat to innocent beach-goers in Florida.

Please be safe!

 

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