Every single shrimp in England’s waterways contains cocaine, researchers say

You’ve heard about the coked-up eels of London, but researchers have claimed that every single shrimp in England also contains the illicit party drug.

It turns out that the prawns of England’s waterways contain Class As and Bs such as cocaine and ketamine, as well as valium and xanax, per resurfaced research published by Environment International.

“We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments,” King’s College researcher Dr. Leon Barron told All That’s Interesting.

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Despite discovering cocaine in every single shrimp tested, researchers say it’s merely “trace amounts”, with many also containing banned pesticides and other pharmaceuticals.

“Whether the presence of cocaine in aquatic animals is an issue for Suffolk, or more widespread an occurrence in the UK and abroad, awaits further research,” University of Suffolk Professor Nic Bury told ATN.

In a 2019 story for Mixmag, Mike Power reported that initial research into “coked-up crustaceans” had become a scaremongering tactic by the media.

Read this next: Prawn coke tale: Why Britain's 'drug problem' is mainstream media scaremongering

Speaking on headlines at the time, Danny Kushlick of drug law reform group Transform, told Power: “Many parts of the media also appear to have a pathological urge to hype the harms of illegal drugs.”

“The study doesn’t really tell us anything about the prevalence of use, so it might be of interest to experts in shrimp biology, but less so to anyone concerned with patterns of drug use or policy."

In 2021, research found that the river that runs through the site of Glastonbury Festival contained “high levels of drug contamination”, discovering that MDMA levels quadrupled a week after the festival took place.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter