‘Cocaine Bear’ And The Unsettling History Of Animals Given Recreational Drugs

The article discusses the recently released film 'Cocaine Bear,' which tells the true story of a bear who died after ingesting 75 pounds of cocaine in the Tennessee wilderness in 1985. This incident sparked attention to the unsettling history of animals being given recreational drugs in various research experiments. For example, an elephant named Tusko was given LSD in 1962, resulting in his violent death. Dolphins were also given LSD in the 1960s in an attempt to communicate with them, but the experiment ultimately failed.

In the 1990s, NASA conducted experiments giving spiders various drugs to test their impact on web-making, while rats were given methamphetamine and cocaine to test music preferences in 2011. More recently, puppies were injected with cocaine in experiments funded by taxpayer money, causing outrage from animal welfare organizations. These examples highlight the disturbing history of animals being used and harmed in drug-related research experiments.