You know the warning: Don’t flush drugs down the toilet.
Health officials, environmental activists, and municipal water workers know the results of dumping dope, prescriptions, and meds in the john. Residual amounts end up in local lakes and rivers, harming wildlife.
Stoned wildlife?
So, if you’re thinking, “What’s a few stoned fish, mammals and birds?”
One U.S. police department just raised a new red flag about drug dumping: It could lead to meth head gators. Surely, something we’d all want to avoid.
Cracked out ‘gators?
Loretto, Tennessee cops recently posted a warning on their Facebook page about potentially cracked out alligators. It happened after officers say they caught a guy flushing methamphetamine down the loo.
Credit: Loretto Police Department“Please don’t flush your drugs m’kay…” the post said. “When you send something down the sewer pipe it ends up in our retention ponds for processing before it is sent downstream. Now our sewer guys take great pride in releasing water that is cleaner than what is in the creek, but they are not really prepared for meth.”
And here is where this issue takes an Alfred Hitchcock Hollywood horror like turn, officers warned:
“Ducks, Geese, and other fowl frequent our treatment ponds and we shudder to think what one all hyped up on meth would do. Furthermore, if it made it far enough we could create meth-gators in Shoal Creek and the Tennessee River down in North Alabama.”
Don’t flush drugs down the toilet
How bad is this issue that police are having nightmares about revved up retiles? The University of Illinois Extension school reports that meds ranging from antibiotics to tranquilizers and seizure medications have been found in ground and drinking water across the country. So you, or the fish you eat, might be ingesting someone else’s drugs. Nasty.
For more info on disposing of your drugs properly and preventing wild wildlife in your community, the FDA has some resources.
Looking for more news from Watchdog Mary on Grit Daily? Check out her full column, here.
