Brazilian Sharks Test Positive for Cocaine

The movie Cocaine Bear brought attention to the dangers of allowing a wild animal to access cocaine. This quickly became its own sub-genre of movie with films such as Cocaine Cougar, Cocaine Werewolf and, yes, Cocaine Shark. Now, though, the events depicted on a movie screen have been found in real-life.

Real-Life Cocaine Sharks

Brazilian scientists recently studied 13 Brazilian sharpnose sharks located just outside of Rio de Janeiro. This particular shark species lives in coastal waters, and as such, they run the risk of contamination from human sewage. Sadly, this study discovered the presence of cocaine in the muscle tissue and liver of all 13 sharks.

Even worse, white female sharks had a much higher concentration of cocaine in their muscle tissue than their male counterparts. Additionally, female and male sharks showed a muscle tissue concentration that was approximately three times higher than their liver tissue.

Cocaine Seizures at an All-Time High in Brazil

How did sharks become infested with cocaine? Blame it on two things: Illegal laboratories that produce cocaine, along with sewage discharge from human users.

Brazil has a robust illegal drug trade, and cocaine usage appears to have shot way up in the months following the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, cocaine seizures in Brazil fell to approximately 21 tons from April 2020 to September 2020, but then went through the roof in October 2020 to March 2021, when 45 tons were seized. Comparatively, the highest number pre-Covid was approximately 34 tons.

This goes hand-in-hand with worldwide trends during the past two decades. Cocaine consumption is more popular than ever, and approximately 22% of the world's users live in South America. Brazil has the second-highest number of cocaine users in the South American market. When you combine with poor sewage treatment infrastructure, it causes the sea to have increased levels of cocaine.