# Crocodile's Curse  A New Illegal Drug



## MA-Caver (Jun 21, 2011)

Just when you think that illicit drugs couldn't get any worse beyond angel dust, crack/cocaine, heroin, now comes the next step, Krokodil. Cheaper and easier to make. It not just kills it disfigures the survivors and causes permanent brain damage.



> By SIMON SHUSTER / CHICHEVO, RUSSIA                  &#8211;     Tue Jun 21, 12:55 am ET
> The new arrivals at the drug rehab center in  Chichevo, a tiny village two hours' drive east of Moscow, are usually  given two weeks without chores to recover from the nausea, pain and  sleeplessness of withdrawal. After that, between Bible study and prayer  (the center is run by Pentecostals) they have to start chopping  firewood, hauling water from the village well or otherwise helping  around the old wooden house. But a lot more leeway was allowed in the  case of Irina Pavlova, the only resident at the center who is addicted  to _krokodil_, or crocodile, Russia's deadliest new designer drug.
> 
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/201106...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDdGhlY3Vyc2VvZnRo


Shouldn't be too long before it starts entering the states.


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## Touch Of Death (Jun 21, 2011)

...Gives new meaning to the term crocodile tears. I don't think it will really catch on in the US. Its not like I can step out my door and buy Heroine where I live; but, it is available to those in the know. I just don't see it being used by the general public.
Sean


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## CanuckMA (Jun 21, 2011)

If there's money to be made off it, it will be sold in NA.


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## granfire (Jun 21, 2011)

Makes meth look like smoking a bong....


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## Touch Of Death (Jun 21, 2011)

granfire said:


> Makes meth look like smoking a bong....


Not really. A guy made some meth with some of my stainless steel black oxide mix from work. The first guy to try it ended up in a coma, and the guy that stole my mix ended up floating face down in the Spokane river. I can see safer versions being made of the crock, but don't go thinking meth is safe.
Sean


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## granfire (Jun 21, 2011)

Touch Of Death said:


> Not really. A guy made some meth with some of my stainless steel black oxide mix from work. The first guy to try it ended up in a coma, and the guy that stole my mix ended up floating face down in the Spokane river. I can see safer versions being made of the crock, but don't go thinking meth is safe.
> Sean



Hell no, that ***** ain't safe...but that kroc....yiekes...and all for a one hour high?!


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## cdunn (Jun 21, 2011)

Americans invented it (desomorphine) in the 30's, it seems. They used to sell it as an operative analgesic in a few European countries, didn't use it here because of the addiction potential. Also, I wonder how much of the health problem is the bottom grade industrial chemicals being used  - a proper distillation includes things like palladium based catalysts, and is a pretty ugly procedure.


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## Empty Hands (Jun 21, 2011)

I would be willing to bet that the "rotting" effect, assuming it's even real as described, is due to the methods of cooking and production and not the drug itself.  The drug itself, desomorphine, is synthesized and prescribed for medical use, and needless to say it doesn't rot anyone.  From the article, the codeine is mixed with "gasoline, paint thinner, hydrochloric acid, iodine and red phosphorous, which they scrape from the striking pads on matchboxes."  I would bet you anything that the effects seen are from those substances, and not the drug itself.


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## MA-Caver (Jun 21, 2011)

Touch Of Death said:


> ...Gives new meaning to the term crocodile tears. I don't think it will really catch on in the US. Its not like I can step out my door and buy Heroine where I live; but, it is available to those in the know. I just don't see it being used by the general public.
> Sean


That's what they said about marijuana, acid, cocaine and crack... 

Never underestimate the lure of a better high's power... nor underestimate the people willing to sell that lure for a profit. 

It'll be here. Give it time.


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## Touch Of Death (Jun 21, 2011)

MA-Caver said:


> That's what they said about marijuana, acid, cocaine and crack...
> 
> Never underestimate the lure of a better high's power... nor underestimate the people willing to sell that lure for a profit.
> 
> It'll be here. Give it time.


I just don't see a lot of opium making it over here. I may be naive but its pretty tight at the border for businesses and military service men. I, again, could be wrong.


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## MA-Caver (Jun 21, 2011)

Touch Of Death said:


> I just don't see a lot of opium making it over here. I may be naive but its pretty tight at the border for businesses and military service men. I, again, could be wrong.


The opium trade in this country have been going on for a long time. Only until 1907 did it start being illegal. 


> There were no legal restrictions on the importation or use of opium in the United States until the San Francisco, California,  Opium Den Ordinance, which banned dens for public smoking of opium in  1875, a measure fueled by anti-Chinese sentiment and the perception that  whites were starting to frequent the dens. This was followed by an 1891  California law requiring that narcotics carry warning labels and that  their sales be recorded in a registry, amendments to the California  Pharmacy and Poison Act in 1907 making it a crime to sell opiates  without a prescription, and bans on possession of opium or opium pipes  in 1909.[56]
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium#Prohibition_outside_China


I don't think you're naive at all alright. A lot of people don't understand or see the drug trade as it's happening. Remember how a big drug bust used to be headlining news? Now it's somewhere around page 3 or 5?



> *Opium production in Afghanistan* has been on the rise since U.S. occupation started in 2001. Based on UNODC  data, there has been more opium poppy cultivation in each of the past  four growing seasons (20042007) than in any one year during Taliban  rule. Also, more land is now used for opium in Afghanistan than for coca  cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 92% of the opiates on the world  market originated in Afghanistan.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan#cite_note-0
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan



So if it's no problem for heroin to get into our country then it shouldn't be a concern for those wanting to bring krokodil in.


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## jks9199 (Jun 21, 2011)

Based on the article -- it's nothing they need to bring in.  And I suspect that the "rot" and several of the other side effects are as much a result of infection and other problems that accompany any IV drug as the effects of anything the drug is made with.  Don't get me wrong -- cook up a drug using crappy stuff and you're not doing your body any favors, but I bet infection, damage to the veins and skin, and the like.  For example, I arrested a long-time heroin user some years back that needed to be  medically cleared.  They almost did a cut-down, his skin and veins were  so bad... his skin literally "popped" when they put the needle in.


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