There is a new illegal street drug that has recently arrived in the United States. This drug is called crocodile or “krokodil” and it chemically similar to heroin and morphine. The drug got is name from the way it affects addicts. Two things usually happen, which are they get dark, scaly lesions on there skin and the drug starts to eat the addicts alive, like a crocodile.
In the United States there have been two cases where people have been addicted in Arizona. These are the only cases that the Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center know as of now. However, this is still very worrying because the drug is known to be highly addictive and to spread like wildfire.
The drug was first found in Russia a few years ago. It became popular because it was a lot cheaper than heroin, and it could be made in a kitchen. The drug was made by combining codeine with oil, gasoline, paint thinner, or alcohol.
Krokodil is injected with a needle but what is freighting is that necrosis, the death and decaying of skin, can happen very quickly after injecting it. The effect of krokodil is about ten times greater than morphine, but also three times as toxic. Addicts that do not quit the drug commonly have gangrene and amputations, and often die after two or three years. Those who do manage to quit are still severely disfigured for life with severe scarring, amputated limbs, bone damage, speech impediments, varying degrees of brain damage, and poor motor skills.
The picture shown is a very minor reaction to the drug. I did not put in worse reactions because some cannot handle the images. If you do want to check out worse reactions click here.
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This is actually really terrifying! I cannot even imagine doing a drug like this & I have never heard of something like this! If this isn’t a warning to not ever do drugs I don’t know what is! It’s really scary to think that drugs like this are coming into our country from these other countries. I’ve actually never seen such a scary looking skin disease either! I did some research on this and found a TON of articles by popular news stations about this. I found this fox one the most interesting.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/26/first-cases-flesh-eating-drug-krokodil-surface-in-us/
After reading this I went and found this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2432802/Drug-users-eaten-alive-flesh-eating-illness-caused-homemade-heroin-substitute-Krokodil.html. Not only does this drug eat your flesh but it can also cause serious brain damage and speech impediments. This drug is literally so crazy that in Russia when the cases were breaking out they were calling the addicts ‘zombies.’ Looking at Shirley’s comment.. I am also now curious if the addicts can feel their skin being eaten. Not that I would EVER do that drug, but I am very curious as to what your skin would feel like when the drug actually hits you.
Wow, this is seriously the scariest drug I have ever heard of, and to think that the addict in the picture is merely suffering from a minor reaction! You mentioned that “necrosis…can happen very quickly after injecting”, which makes me wonder if the addicts can actually feel when their skin is being eaten alive, or if the high of the drug keeps them from feeling it.
This blog post makes me wonder who in their right mind would take a drug like this. It’s scary to think people would use this drug knowing the possible outcomes and affects that harm the body. The ingredients in Krokodil are very alarming and does not surprise me that they would decay the skin like in the picture. With the open wounds I can’t imagine the infections some would receive. I wonder what parts of the brain Krokodil affects the most and if it affects vision at all?