No one imagines that today they will sign their life away, but for the vast majority of Krokodil users that is exactly what the first use of this homemade drug will ask of them. The average life span of a Krokodil user is 2 to 3 years.

Krokodil was first created in Siberia in 2002. It is a death-laced concoction of over-the-counter codeine used in medications for treating headaches and a maker’s choice of:

• gasoline
• paint thinner
• hydrochloric acid
• iodine
• red phosphorous
• alcohol

The official name is desomorphine but on the street it goes by Krokodil in reference to the scaly, green crocodile effect it will have on the user’s skin. It is as addictive as heroin and far more affordable to produce.

In the last three years the drug has swept across Russia. It devours users as if they are dominos stacked neatly in a line and it is the catalyst that will knock them down into a doomed end. It has now arrived in the U.S. with documented cases in Arizona, poised to assert its dominance here as horrifyingly as it has all across Russia.

In interviews with some of the very few to survive this insidious creation it is reported that addiction is almost instantaneous. Life for addicts becomes a 24/7 cycle of 90 minute highs and mixing up the next dose.

Krokodil users aren’t thinking about the gangrene festering around injection sites as the body begins to rot and flesh begins to fall from their bodies. They can only see the next high. They may begin to suffer when their bodies become riddled with sores, abscesses, and blood poisoning sets in. They will not be able to stop using without intervention.

Images of Krokodil users are graphic. Click Here at your discretion.

Krokodil users will face amputations due to the gangrene and open wounds that will destroy flesh and muscle right down to the bone. Teeth and jawbones will be disintegrated. If users survive long enough and are strong enough to break their addiction it is not uncommon to be left with lifelong brain damage and ticks that have given it a secondary nickname of the “zombie drug”.

It is a drug that will never leave its user. The ease of its manufacturing will make sure of that. The intense addictive qualities will make sure of that. Only early and intense rehabilitation will give its users any kind of hope of breaking free and reclaiming life. Users require a support system and drug rehab program that is able to help break the addiction cycle.

Users who survive and are able to beat Krokodil will need an ironclad resolve and the continuing support of professionals, family, and friends. Because, when they are once again ready to begin living life outside treatment walls, Krokodil will certainly be waiting.

About the Author:  Heather Cooper is a professional writer from Oklahoma with first-hand experience in living with an addict.