The War on Salmon! Smoke dope, eat almonds, kill fish.

Two articles I read this morning have the same thing in common---the plight of salmon in California due to a severe water shortage.  Nice examples of scarcity of a resource (water) and how opportunity costs arise in allocating that resource (for salmon? almonds? marijuana?).

Each article cites a different culprit for the suffering salmon (emphasis mine):

Cannabis farming in California using so much water it could wipe out salmon population, biologists warn

"Water use and other actions by the marijuana industry in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California and Southern Oregon are threatening salmon already in danger of extinction, US biologists have said."

California Drought Has Wild Salmon Competing With Almonds For Water

"The ongoing California drought has pitted wild salmon against farmers in a fight for water. While growers of almonds, one of the state's biggest and most lucrative crops, enjoy booming production and skyrocketing sales to China, the fish, it seems, might be left high and dry this summer—and maybe even dead."

Use marijuana, quench the munchies with almonds, kill salmon.

Save the salmon, but don't smoke dope and/or eat almonds.

Change the order, but the lesson remains the same:  Choices, choices...