Sharks doing coke in the Bahamas!

[El Presidente]

I also thought it was a story about lawyers on holiday.....but no! 

 

Sharks Are Testing Positive For Cocaine And Caffeine in The Bahamas

Environment26 March 2026

ByDavid Nield

(Stephen Frink/The Image Bank/Getty Images)

Sharks in the Bahamas have tested positive for cocaine, a new study concludes.

Researchers from the Bahamas, Brazil, and Chile also found traces of caffeine and painkillers in the sharks. This isn't a shift in lifestyle from the animals, but rather something that's being forced upon them, as marine pollution becomes ever more pervasive.

Finding traces of these substances in a tropical place widely seen as idyllic and pristine is concerning – it seems there are vanishingly few spots on Earth where wildlife can escape our influence.

"Pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs are increasingly recognized as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in marine environments, particularly in areas undergoing rapid urbanization and tourism-driven development," write the researchers in their published paper.

"Their continual influx poses risks not only to marine biodiversity but also to human health through seafood consumption and recreational water exposure."

The research team analyzed blood samples from 85 sharks captured around Eleuthera, one of the most remote islands in the Bahamas. Of those sharks, 28 had drugs of some description in their system.

Caffeine was the most commonly detected substance, but two of the sharks tested positive for cocaine too. The researchers suspect the sharks may have bitten packets of cocaine that fell into the water.

"They bite things to investigate and end up exposed," biologist Natascha Wosnick, from the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, told Joshua Rapp Learn at Science News.

The sharks were captured around popular diving and tourist cruise spots, and the suggestion is that untreated wastewater from boats may be contributing to these results – as well as greater wastewater from urban development and tourism more generally.

It's the first time caffeine has been detected in sharks anywhere, and the first time cocaine has been found in the systems of sharks in the Bahamas. The other two drugs identified in the blood samples were the painkillers acetaminophen and diclofenac.

[Chibearsv]

2 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

This isn't a shift in lifestyle from the animals

[Havanaaddict]

Remind me to never go swimming in the Bahamas, sharks are bad enough, but sharks on cocaine.😳

[QDOguy]

There's definitely a movie plot coming out of this story, Cocaine Sharknado??

[rcarlson]

How do they hold the straw?

[riderpride]

Man, someone's gotta make a movie about this. Cocaine bear was awesome, but this will need to get creative. 

Cheers!

https://globalnews.ca/news/9509987/cocaine-bear-movie-true-story/

 

[JohnS]

Look, I've never had cocaine in my life, but from what I understand, adding caffeine to it is really, really bad. Just look at these poor sharks! 😂