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Krokodil, Flesh-Eating Drug, Reported In Arizona


Dr. LoVecchio points out damage to a krokodil user's leg. The drug, a morphine derivative, causes severe tissue damage.
KLTV

By Andres Jauregui
Posted: 09/26/2013 9:22 am EDT | Updated: 09/26/2013 9:22 am EDT

A homemade drug that causes severe damage to the flesh of those who use it has reportedly shown up in the U.S.

Previously reported in Russia, Krokodil, a disfiguring and potentially lethal mixture of codeine and hydrocarbons [ http://www.kltv.com/story/23521413/first-cases-of-flesh-eating-drug-reported-in-az ] such as oil, paint thinner, gasoline or alcohol, has made its way to Arizona.

According to doctors at Banner Poison Control Center, two cases of the drug have been reported in the state in the past week.

“As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported... We're extremely frightened," Dr. Frank LoVecchio, the co-medical director at the center, told KLTV.

Users filter and boil the drug before injecting it. Although LoVecchio said users believe the process removes the impurities, they are wrong.

Once injected, the drug causes damage to blood vessels and tissue that cause flesh to rot from the inside out. The horrific sores that some users develop resemble crocodile skin, which lends the street drug its name. The average life expectancy of a krokodil user [ http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23531822/2013/09/25/2-cases-of-flesh-eating-drug-use-in-arizona ] is about three years, according to KSAZ.

Disturbing images of the drug's grisly side-effects [ http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/seriously-dont-use-krokodil ] have been reported before. The images are said to have originated in Russia [ http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2078355,00.html ], where between a few hundred thousand and a million people injected the drug in 2010, according to Time.

LoVecchio told KLTV that the main attraction to the drug is the cost: It is reportedly 20 times cheaper than heroin, but produces a similar high. He believes that the two cases in Arizona may be related [ http://gawker.com/flesh-eating-drug-krokodil-finally-shows-up-in-the-us-1396358829 ], according to Gawker.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has monitored krokodil -- also known as desomorphine -- since 2011.

Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/krokodil-flesh-eating-drug-arizona_n_3994912.html [with (graphic) embedded video, and comments]


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Krokodil: Russia's Deadliest Drug (NSFW)

Published on May 17, 2012 by VICE

A homemade drug called Krokodil is gaining popularity in Siberia and its effects on users are horrific. Krokodil is Russian for Crocodile, because of the way addicts' skin begins to get turn scaly, dry and eventually rot right off their bodies. Even most heroin users are frightened by Krokodil and want nothing to do with this terrifying drug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsUH8llvTZo


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World's Scariest Drug (Documentary Exclusive)

Published on May 11, 2012 by VICE

VICE's Ryan Duffy went to Colombia to check out a strange and powerful drug called Scopolamine, also known as "The Devil's Breath." It's a substance so intense that it renders a person incapable of exercising free will. The first few days in the country were a harrowing montage of freaked-out dealers and unimaginable horror stories about Scopolamine. After meeting only a few people with firsthand experience, the story took a far darker turn than we ever could have imagined.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToQ8PWYnu04


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