Flesh-Eating Russian Street Drug ‘Crocodile’ Surfaces in US

RIA Novosti
September 30, 2013

Sick.
Sick.
US doctors say the first cases of people using a notorious Russian street drug that eats away at the flesh have been reported in the United States.

“We’ve had two cases this past week that have occurred in Arizona,” Dr. Frank LoVecchio of the Banner Poison Control Center told KLTV television this week. “As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported. So we’re extremely frightened.”

The drug is known in Russia as “krokodil” or “crocodile,” because its gangrenous effect can cause the skin of users to resemble that of a crocodile.

Used widely in Russia for its strong sedative effects in lieu of heroin, crocodile has been the focus of efforts by Russian authorities in recent years to stem the spread of pharmaceuticals containing codeine, an opiate that is the key ingredient in the illicit substance.

Crocodile is produced by combining codeine with readily available industrial solvents and chemicals, such as paint thinner, oil or gasoline, a process similar to that used to create methamphetamine.

It is then used intravenously and can cause the flesh to rot from the inside out at the site of the injection.

“They extract [the drug] and even though they believe that most of the oil and gasoline is gone, there is still remnants of it,” LoVecchio said. “You can imagine just injecting a little bit of it into your veins can cause a lot of damage.”

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