New name same issues, Krokodil or Heroin (chemically known as Diamorphine or Di-acetylmorphine) is one of the most dangerous drugs used by people who inject opiates intravenously. The average life expectancy of a heroin user ranges from 15 to 20 years after the first injection. Heroin addiction is also one of the major causes for the growing HIV epidemic in countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Iran. In Russia itself, there are 800,000 people who became HIV positive after injecting drugs using contaminated needles.
Krokodil getting worse
From 2010 onward, a further worsening of the trend occurred. A new drug called Krokodil captured close to 30% of the intravenous drug market in Russia and started spreading to the neighboring nations. One shot of Krokodil costs just 300 rubles, which is 10 times cheaper as compared to Heroin. A large part of the 2 million injecting drug users of Russia started using this new drug. Although drug addicts in richer urban areas like Moscow and Tyumen continued to inject themselves with the Afghan Heroin, those who live in provincial towns and rural areas mostly shifted to cheaper Krokodil. Compared to Heroin, Krokodil is easily available also. Krokodil is manufactured from Codeine tablets (an over the counter drug in most of the Russian provinces) using the process of catalytic reduction and demethylation, using easily available solvents like iodine, red phosphorous, sulphuric acid and gasoline. Even someone with a very basic knowledge of Chemistry can easily manufacture Krokodil using readily available substances.
Krokodil 30 times stronger
When used intravenously, Krokodil (chemically known as Desomorphine or Dihydrodesoxymorphine) is close to 30 times more potent as compared to Diamorphine. But the “high” received from a single Desomorphine shot lasts just 2 hours. So the addicts usually inject the drug every two hours without having any adequate sleep or nutrition. Many addicts die due to heart failure, liver disease or fatigue as a result of continuous Desomorphine addiction.
Krokodil Flesh eating drug
The average life expectancy of a Krokodil addict ranges from 10 to 12 months (much lower than that for heroin addicts). Most of them die as a result of impurities like Iodine and Phosphorous which are contained in the drug having very low purity. These chemicals corrode the flesh slowly and as a result Krokodil has earned the nickname as “Flesh eating zombie drug”. Amputations regularly occur among the addicts after a few months. Even those who quit using Krokodil after two or three months are often horribly disfigured. Withdrawal symptoms are extremely severe and last for more than 15 days. Less than one in ten people who use Krokodil for more than one month can be successfully de-addicted.
Fighting Krokodil
The first step towards fighting the Krokodil addiction is to make Codeine tablets available only with a doctor’s prescription. But many of the provincial governors in Russia (many having ties to major pharmaceutical companies) are opposing this step. Unless Russia can reign in on this ultra-toxic drug, the future looks quite bleak. Russia also had a very bad problem with Afghanistan heroin and their troops coming home. With the current war in Ukraine the Krokodil problem wont go away any time soon. War always makes more drug addicts they need to kill their pain either physical or mental pain. The war in Ukraine have just started and there is no telling when it will end if ever. Its those kind of proxy war that keeps going since someone want them to go on. Lets hope that Russia can fight the Krokodil issues and lets get the addicts off Krokodil as soon as possible for the sake of humanity.