Horrifying Russian designer drug eats addicts' flesh

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The average user of krokodil, a dirty cousin of morphine that is spreading like a virus among Russian youth, does not live longer than two or three years, and the few who manage to quit usually come away disfigured.

...

The active component is codeine, a widely sold over-the-counter painkiller that is not toxic on its own. But to produce krokodil, whose medical name is desomorphine, addicts mix it with ingredients including gasoline, paint thinner, hydrochloric acid, iodine and red phosphorous, which they scrape from the striking pads on matchboxes. In 2010, between a few hundred thousand and a million people, according to various official estimates, were injecting the resulting substance into their veins in Russia, so far the only country in the world to see the drug grow into an epidemic.

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At the injection site, which can be anywhere from the feet to the forehead, the addict's skin becomes greenish and scaly, like a crocodile's, as blood vessels burst and the surrounding tissue dies. Gangrene and amputations are a common result, while porous bone tissue, especially in the lower jaw, often starts to dissipate, eaten up by the drug's acidity.

So the effects are like the worst parts of Requiem for a Dream on a loop? Damn.

Jeez, how in the hell did this drug even see usage?

Man how shitty of a life or how good of a drug when you're taking something that will take away your fucking limbs in such a short time?

Addicts aren't known for using common sense when it comes to getting high.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

Jeez, how in the hell did this drug even see usage?

Alternet Link

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In Russia, efforts to stunt the flow of Afghan heroin have resulted in a diminished dope supply with higher prices. To some, this may seem like a success, but expensive heroin did not result in fewer junkies.

Instead, Russian heroin addicts are turning to Krokodil – a devastating home-made substitute so addicting users will inject it long beyond the decay of their flesh, until they literally rot to death. Nearly inconceivable, the effects of the drug are horrifying, and so many Russians are using Krokodil it can be seen as approaching a national epidemic...

...Users say the chemicals in Krokodil actually make it feel unclean, unlike its purer cousin, heroin. Thus, most users turn to Krokodil when heroin becomes unaffordable and then return to dope when they have their funds in check. But while Krokodil is prominent in cities like Tver, it is spreading rapidly in poorer, rural areas....

Basically it's a less expensive but far more toxic form of heroin, which is becoming more and more expensive thanks to law enforcement cracking down. Once again, we see that simply restricting a drug without attempting to fix the socioeconomic roots of addiction results in disaster...

In Soviet Russia, drug uses you![/obligatory yakov smirnoff joke]

Oh, god, the thought of this makes me physically ill. Maybe it's because i was traumatized by the demonization of drug use in kids movies (Shit, does anybody remember the scene in Beethoven with the needles... and the poor dog... and...)

Yeah. I'm horrified.

It's not unusual for drug dealers to 'cut' their meth and heroin with stuff to bulk it up and make it last longer (and thus make more money. I've heard of them using everything from powdered milk to detergent to drain cleaner. But I've never heard of addicts doing it.

Rabid Badger wrote:

It's not unusual for drug dealers to 'cut' their meth

Because meth is not already cheap and awful enough?

Man, you really have to be hard up when you are using drugs cheaper and more face-melting than meth.

Reepicheep-chan wrote:

Because meth is not already cheap and awful enough?

Man, you really have to be hard up when you are using drugs cheaper and more face-melting than meth.

It's a simple matter of greed. If they cut the drug, they have more of it, so they can make more money. Also, they do that in the US. From what the article said, part of the reason people are using this drug is that the police in Russia have cracked down on the availability of meth and heroin. Drug users don't tend to be the most discerning people-all they care about is getting high. They don't consider long-term effects.

Owlish is right; this is what happens when you don't bother to address the cause of the problem. Removing meth and heroin from the streets hasn't stopped people from figuring out a way to get high in the same way that prohibition in the US didn't stop people from drinking if they really wanted to.

Another way to view the reason for them using it is like leveling up in an (incredibly horrifying) video-game. The body will most likely become used to the effects of a weaker drug after using for a long amount of time so they have to move on to stronger and more dangerous drugs for their fix.

Like Owlish said, the main reason is probably because it's cheaper (and more readily available) though.

Rabid Badger wrote:

I've heard of them using everything from powdered milk to detergent to drain cleaner.

That's fucked up! Some of us are lactose intolerant!



But yeah, Russians are fucking nuts, News at eleven. *shudders*



PS: Want pictures?

When I first read this topic title, I somehow didn't see the word 'drug'. I thought it was about a Russian clothing designer who invited his less-fortunate neighbors over for dinner. Hannibal Lecter-style.

Everybody world-wide will cut any drugs with anything they can to make it go further. Users themselves do it.

It's just another reason drugs are so dangerous - you don't know what they've been cut with and you don't know how far they've been cut - different dealers cut it in different ways.

EileenK98 wrote:

When I first read this topic title, I somehow didn't see the word 'drug'. I thought it was about a Russian clothing designer who invited his less-fortunate neighbors over for dinner. Hannibal Lecter-style.

The question is: is the reality disappointing or somehow even more horrifying?

I like the name, by the way: krokodil. In three years, this will be a Marvel villain/anti-hero, who's drug abuse has led to him gaining a scaly skin and the ability to cause wicked hallucinations in other people. In the 2018 movie, he will be played by Justin Bieber, post-rehab.

Sounds like a self-correcting problem.

It'll certainly kill off plenty of poor heroin addicts, if that's your answer to curing addictions.

If heroin gets easier again to keep people using this, they'll just get right back on heroin again.

Penguin wrote:

Sounds like a self-correcting problem.

Man, and here I was expecting the first "trolling with a despicable opinion" post in this thread to come from Mikey. That's a pretty good one though.

I mean, you are trolling, right?

^
I was going to say something along the lines of "If I had to drink a gallon of vodka to forget I fucking live in Russia, I'd be looking for something stronger too," but I didn't think it was up to my Standards of Lulz and Amusement.

Kind of have to agree with Penny though. This shit is great because it kills the addicts. The problem with shit like marijuana is that you end up with a bunch of very much alive idiots stumbling around rambling nonsensically about idiotic shit all day.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

The problem with shit like marijuana is that you end up with a bunch of very much alive idiots stumbling around rambling nonsensically about idiotic shit all day.

And some people - let's not resort to something as base as name-calling, shall we? - achieve it without resorting to drugs at all!

Penguin wrote:

Sounds like a self-correcting problem.

Yes, all drug addicts are evil horrible subhuman entities who deserve to be cleansed from society in any way possible. This includes their limbs and jaws literally rotting off their malnourished, diseased bodies.

I have to ask, are you just trolling us and trying to be "IMMA HARDCORE!11!!!" on here, or are you a myopic, uncaring asshole IRL too? Because frankly, you've been acting more and more like a total prick, I've been wanting to call you out for a long time on this, and now seems to be as good a time as any.

Penguin wrote:

Sounds like a self-correcting problem.

Thank god I wasn't being delusional! I read it right! Normal Social Skills, here I come!

Seriously though Penguin, that's a terrible thing to say. And not just because it isn't a self-correcting problem. AIDS kills rapists who think that raping a virgin will cure them, but you don't see less AIDS. Or less rapists.

Suppose other people think this... new designer drug is a good, cheap, legal substitute for heroin? It could spread. Especially if it's as addictive as Heroin is, because people who are on drugs have this horrible tendency to not care they're killing themselves, or hurting other people, just as long as they get their next hit.

Blah, blah, blah, addicts, blah, blah, blah, have fucking lost my patience with this BS, blah, blah, blah, Harley shut the fuck up, you waste of carbon, etc.

I'm kind of fascinated by the process. How does that work? What do their insides look like at the point of death? Does it decay the major organs too, or just the skin at point of injection? Their bones have problems too? That must effect the joints, and the...huh. Muscle decay has to be happening too at the injection site, and that obviously spreads. The skin must look fascinating under a microscope.

...I'm focusing on the wrong things, aren't I?

Still, this is really interesting.

Oh, the brain damage! What does it do to the brain and the nervous system?

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

Suppose other people think this... new designer drug is a good, cheap, legal substitute for heroin?

oh god harley that is so not the point

shit even from a purely selfish point of view people should give a fuck about tackling illegal drug use properly

think about crime property values personal safety

fuck

Seriously: I read the article. The addict it focusses on lived in a former Gulag camp where it was winter eight months of the year, there was very little employment and nothing for people to do except get fucked up. Now children, can anyone tell me what we might do to stop people from feeling so bored and useless and depressed that they start cooking up shit that will rot their jaws off for the sake of escaping their horrible lives for ninety minutes?

Lapin wrote:

Oh, the brain damage! What does it do to the brain and the nervous system?

Read the article.

Cyberwulf wrote:

Lapin wrote:

Oh, the brain damage! What does it do to the brain and the nervous system?

Read the article.

And look at the pictures behind the link I posted. This is probably the best one, and by "best", I mean you need to either be interested professionally or really jaded. *


With regards to Penguin's little comment there, I am assuming if one of these people crawled up on his doorstep, he would not actually, literally wait until they died of gangrene; and with that assumption in mind I have to say that's exactly the kind of GOD DUDE THAT'S FUCKING WRONG I come here for.


*Admittedly, with that fork, it kinda looks like dinner. Maybe meatballs.