Massachusetts Town’s Sewage System Teeming With Cocaine, Report Finds

Wastewater testing on the exclusive Massachusetts island of Nantucket uncovered cocaine levels nearly 50% higher than the national average while showing lower traces of fentanyl, according to local authorities.

The Surfside Wastewater Treatment Facility, which serves approximately three-quarters of the island’s homes, carried out the testing, Fox News Digital reported. They recorded cocaine concentrations just under 1,500 nanograms per liter since testing began earlier in the summer, according to the town’s wastewater surveillance report. This compares to the national average of approximately 1,000 ng/L and the Northeast regional average of around 900 ng/L.

Local health officials announced the wastewater monitoring program earlier this summer, expanding beyond COVID-19 surveillance to include various drugs. The initiative tracks substance use patterns across the island without identifying specific individuals or neighborhoods by collecting samples from the treatment facility, according to authorities.

While cocaine levels exceeded national averages, other substances told a different story. Fentanyl nearly always registered below 5 ng/L — significantly lower than the national average of around 15 ng/L. Methamphetamine barely registered in tests and xylazine, an animal tranquilizer increasingly found mixed with street drugs, fell below the minimum observable level.

How much cocaine is in Nantucket’s sewage?https://t.co/WQohMBaoGr

— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) August 8, 2025

Nicotine content varied throughout the testing, at times near the regional average of below 4,000 ng/L and mostly staying below the national average of approximately 4,500 ng/L. Results have fluctuated since monitoring began, but cocaine levels have consistently remained elevated. (RELATED: ‘I Learned How To Make My Own’: Hunter Biden Details Depths Of Cocaine Addiction)

“During COVID, a lot of these communities, and most communities, decided that it was important for them to start testing the water to see if there were any spikes in COVID in the region,” Maryland attorney and legal analyst Randolph Rice noted, according to Fox News Digital. “But what Nantucket has now decided to do as of the beginning of the summer is to actually start testing for other types of substances, particularly drugs, nicotine and other items…within the system there. And what they’re finding is that there is a high level of cocaine.”

The testing program screens for cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, other opioids, xylazine and nicotine.