From here:
> “..after being used by humans, methamphetamine enters waterways through sewage systems and discharges from wastewater treatment plants….
> “Meth pollutes rivers all over the world, with concentrations of the drug ranging from a few nanograms to dozens of micrograms per liter of water….”
Soooo apparently “researchers placed 60 trout in a drug-free holding tank and another 60 in a tank laced with 1 microgram of meth per liter of water.”
> “The researchers had the latter group of fish soak in the meth-tainted water for 2 months – a step meant to simulate the effects of persistent drug exposure that might occur in a polluted river. The researchers then transferred the drugged fish into a clean tank for 10 days….
> “To test for withdrawal symptoms, the team devised an experiment where fish could choose between swimming in clean water or water with trace amounts of meth…the tank is designed such that the 2 streams of water don’t mix but the fish can still swim between them. When previously exposed fish showed a preference for the meth-tainted water in the experiment, that was taken as a sign of addiction to the drug….
> “The team ran select fish through this experiment on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th days after they’d been moved to the drug-free tank…they also ran drug-free fish through the same experiment…. They found that, in the first 4 days after the tank swap, the meth-exposed fish showed a stronger preference for drugged water, compared with the fish that had not been exposed to meth. This difference waned the more time the exposed fish spent in the drug-free tank.
> “The researchers also noted that, in general, the meth-exposed fish became somewhat sedentary in these first 4 days of withdrawal, while the drug-free fish swam about as usual. This lack of movement hinted that the fish were stressed out due to their meth withdrawal….”
Wow. 🥴 Not even sure what to say.
