The article states that it already happened, but didn't quite make the "cut" that you'd expect.
>>> A documentary released in 2023, called Cocaine Sharks attempted to establish whether sharks in the Gulf of Mexico were consuming the hundreds of packages of cocaine lost or dumped every year by drug smugglers.
Cocaine is a d2 reuptake inhibitor like AFAIK pretty much all notropics. But the speed of action and the short duration makes it very addictive. So I could readily believe people are smarter while on cocaine, just that gets shadowed by the focus on feeding the addiction.
I take modafinil which is slower and longer acting d2 reuptake inhibitor and am definitely smarter on it, it helps with my ADHD as I had dopamine dysregulation prior to taking modafinil. Because of that prior state I get a much stronger effect from it and require only a lower dose of it (50 to 100mg).
D2 is a specific subtype of dopamine receptor not a dopamine transporter. The dopamine transporter is DAT which is inhibited by cocaine along with NET and SERT
Do sharks not have any way to metabolize or pass these things? Usually bioaccumulation refers to things that STAY in an organism. For example, vitamin c does not bioaccumulate. Microplastics do.
Fat soluble compounds accumulate in fatty tissue, while I imagine water soluble compounds could accumulate in e.g. muscle tissue.
It’s not in the same sense as microplastics, as these compounds are released when their storage medium is processed. That’s actually a beneficial mechanism as it means that fat is also a store of essential nutrients rather than just calories, released steadily when fat is burned. It’s just bad when things accumulate in excess.
Cocaine might be able to accumulate in small amounts in tissue this way.