Went there recently wild stories about cocaine-addicted sharks in Florida by all the drug packages that end up in the water off the coast. The sharks are said to ingest large amounts of drugs, which can lead to abnormal behavior.
The Coast Guard found thousands of pounds of floating cocaine packages in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean in June. Scientists are trying to find out whether the sharks actually eat the coke and what consequences this has. According to some of them it could be real. According to others, it was a hype created around Discovery Channel's Shark Week.
How do sharks react to cocaine?
Following the hypothesis that sharks may behave erratically or more aggressively (that is, attack humans more often) when ingesting cocaine, scientists conducted an experiment. They placed packages of food and cocaine in the ocean to see what substance the sharks were attracted to. The sharks were more attracted to the drugs. “We don't yet know how sharks respond to cocaine,” says Dr. Tracy Fanara, a “cocaine shark” researcher. For example, it could make them more docile; it could slow their movement.” At this moment there certainly does not seem to be a connection between more aggression in the animals due to the drug.
Source: surfers.com (EN)
