Earlier this month, an addiction specialist in Joliet, Ill., Dr. Abhin Singla, reported treating three patients who appeared to be suffering from the effects of krokodil.
A derivative of morphine that is similar to heroin but three times more powerful and available at a fraction of the cost, krokodil can cause abusers to develop green, scaly skin.
The drug eventually will rot the users flesh from the inside out, sometimes down to the bone.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, desomorphine – the official name for krokodil – is a synthetic morphine analogue created in the United States in the 1930s.
“It is about 10 times more potent than morphine,” a DEA report reads.
Desomorphine has been out of use in the United States since 1936, though it has been used medically in Switzerland under the brand name Permonid, according to the DEA. An illicit version of the drug – synthesized from codeine – surfaced in Russia in 2003.
The heroin problem in Russia, combined with rampant poverty, has resulted in an unfortunate amount of drug users seeking cheap heroin alternatives.
The home-brewed version of the drug is made from codeine tablets, gasoline, paint thinner or lighter fluid. Blomgren compares the synthesis of krokodil to methamphetamine, which is derived from a potentially helpful substance – in meth’s case, pseudoephedrine – but mixed with harmful substances to create a dangerous and potentially lethal drug.
“It’s the process that’s harmful,” Blomgren said. “You start mixing in a bunch of chemicals. Some of the chemicals are toxic.”
Krokodil has been on the radar of drug experts for a number of years. They watched it reach epidemic levels in Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this year, alleged cases of krokodil use occurred in Utah and Arizona. On Oct. 7, Singla said he had treated three Joliet-area residents who were displaying symptoms of krokodil abuse.
“It is a horrific way of getting sick,” Singla said in a release from the Saint Joseph Medical Center. “The smell of rotten flesh permeates the room. Intensive treatment and skin grafts and required, but they are often not enough to save limbs or lives.”
As use of the flesh-eating drug in the U.S. is becoming more well-known in states like Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Illinois, are there sufficient rehab programs for Krokodil addicts? Use of the drug “would limit treatment programs,” Pete McLenighan, Executive Director of Stepping Stones Treatment Center in Joliet, Illinois stated.