Krokodil: The Deadly Street Drug That Rottens Flesh and Bone

The Emergence of Krokodil in Russia

• 🇷🇺 Krokodil, a highly destructive street drug, first gained notoriety in Russia around 2011 as a cheaper alternative to heroin.
• 💡 It emerged in impoverished, rural areas where bleak living conditions drove people to seek escape through potent substances.
• 💊 The drug's primary ingredient is codeine, extracted from over-the-counter cold medicines like Caffetin.

The Toxic Ingredients and Manufacturing Process

• 🧪 Krokodil is a toxic cocktail made from readily available household and industrial chemicals, including battery acid, paint thinner, gasoline, and eye drops.
• 🛠️ It can be manufactured quickly and cheaply in makeshift home labs, with the entire process from cooking to injection taking as little as 10-45 minutes.
• ⛽ Gasoline acts as a solvent to extract codeine, while acids convert it into desomorphine, a substance significantly more potent than morphine.

Devastating Physical Effects

• 🐊 The name "Krokodil" comes from the scaly, greenish skin that develops around injection sites due to tissue damage.
• 💀 Users experience severe necrosis, leading to exposed bone, rotting flesh, and gruesome disfigurement, often requiring amputation.
• 🩸 The toxic byproducts damage blood vessels, muscle, and bone, leading to abscesses, gangrene, and severe infections.

Psychoactive and Neurological Impacts

• ✨ The inclusion of tropicamide from eye drops provides an additional psychoactive