fish
Celestial Eye Goldfish in distress

Meanwhile in Nature: Fish Are Getting Addicted to Meth, And It’s All Our Fault

Humans are bad for the environment. We pollute, worsen the climate crisis, and fail to protect nature because we’re too busy focusing on profits. The latest example of how we’re ruining everything wonderful on Earth? Fish are now getting addicted to meth – and it’s all our fault.

Here’s how we’re drugging our scaly friends in the sea: after we ingest amphetamines – either illegally in the form of street drugs or legally in the form of prescription ones – we use the toilet, and all that tainted pee and poop make its way through the water-treatment facilities. As good as they may be at filtering some things out, meth is not one of them. Thus, fish become exposed to our chemically-infused fluids.

And this isn’t the only substance bottom-dwellers are getting a contact high from. They’re also taking in an insane amount of antidepressants and antibiotics, too.

Why should we care? Well, if you eat fish, you just might end up with drugged seafood on your plate, and it could be dangerous in the same way high-mercury fish are. Even if this dire news were to convert you into a plant-based diet enthusiast, there’s one more long-term consequence of filling our fish with drugs – meth alters their behavior, making it less likely they’ll avoid predators and/or mate like nature intended. Worst case scenario? We kill all the fish off, just because we wanted to dodge reality for a while.

So the next time you’re thinking about loading up on some mind-altering chemicals, remember where they could end up after your body processes them – and think twice. There are plenty of fish in the sea, but it might not be that way forever.

Cover Photo: aluxum (Getty Images)

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