Flesh-Rotting Russian Drug Surfaces in US

Two cases of Krokodil use found in Arizona
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2013 11:20 AM CDT

A new street drug has come to America, but we're going to go ahead and predict it's not going to be the next big thing. The Banner Poison Control Center in Arizona says it's had two reports of Krokodil use, the first known reports of the drug in the US, CBS 5 reports. The drug, which has been used in Russia since about 2002, is known for literally causing the flesh to rot from addicts' bones. (We recommend against running an image search on this.)

"This is really frightening," one toxicologist tells Fox News. "This is something we hoped would never make it to the US." The drug's users tend to die within three years, Fox 10 reports. Krokodil is formulated from a boiled mixture of codeine and gasoline, paint thinner, or alcohol, and it's the injection of gasoline that causes so much damage. It hasn't caught on in the US because codeine is more tightly controlled here, and non-flesh-eating alternatives like heroin are relatively available. "It's not going to become a club drug, I can guarantee you that," one doctor predicted in 2011. (More Krokodil stories.)

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