Transcript A KROKODIL BITE ME…I WASN’T IN THE WATER (IT WAS A …

Dr. LaVelle Hendricks, LCDC, ADC, CART
Associate Professor of Counseling
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Special
Education
Desomorphine
 is an opioid first patented in 1932 in the United States
that is a derivative of morphine
 It has sedative and analgesic effects, and is around 8-10
times more potent than morphine.
 Desomorphine attracted attention in 2010 in Russia
due to an increase in clandestine production,
presumably due to its relatively simple synthesis from
codeine. The drug is easily made from codeine, iodine
and red phosphorus, in a process similar to the
manufacture of methamphetamine
 The street name in Russia for home-made
desomorphine is "krokodil" (crocodile), reportedly
due to the scale-like appearance of skin of its users
PICTURES
Man found inside!
 Due to difficulties in procuring heroin, combined with
easy and cheap access to over-the-counter pharmacy
products containing codeine in Russia, use of
"krokodil" has been on the increase.
 The high associated with krokodil is akin to that of
heroin, but lasts a much shorter period.
 While the effects of heroin use can last four to eight
hours, the effects of krokodil do not usually extend
past one and a half hours
 Krokodil takes roughly 30 minutes to an hour to
prepare with over-the-counter ingredients in a kitchen
 The medical name for the drug is desomorphine. It is
made at home by acquiring codeine, sold over the
counter for headaches, and cooking it with paint
thinner, gasoline, hydrochloric acid, iodine and
the red phosphorous from matchbox strike pads.
 while the life expectancy of a Moscow heroin addict is
four to seven years, the life expectancy of a krokodil
addict is just a year or two.
 Krokodil gets its name from the fact that the
caustic drug causes an addict's skin to become
green, scaly and bumpy like a crocodile's. If the
drug misses a vein and is injected into flesh, that flesh
will develop abscesses. It is common for addicts to
develop gangrene and require amputations. The flesh
on some body parts affected by krokodil
injections will rot off completely, leaving bare
bone.
 Withdrawal is savage, much worse than heroin.
Heroin can cause sickness and pain for up to ten days
but withdrawal from krokodil can result in a month of
unbearable pain. Extremely strong tranquilizers are
used during withdrawal so the addict does not pass out
from the pain. Doctors dealing with addicts say
that this is the strongest level of addiction and
the hardest to cure. If a person does manage to get
clean from krokodil, they may be left with permanent
damage like a speech impediment, vacant gaze and
erratic movements.
 DEA Now Monitoring Krokodil, a Deadly
Morphine Derivative
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 In 2010, up to a million people, according to various
estimates, were injecting the resulting substance into
their veins in Russia, thus far the only country
worldwide to see it grow into an epidemic,
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Appearance:
Brownish sludge or power
Street Names:
The Rotting
Rot
Crok
Krok
Crocodile
Krokodil
 Routes of Administration:
 Intravenous
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 Side Effects of Krokodil Abuse
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Greenish Scaly skin
Headaches
Nausea
Gangrene
Rotting Sores
Porous bone tissue
Slurred Speech
Slowed motor skills
Brain Damage
Death
TREATMENT
 detox with methadone maintenance treatment. many
people have found that small doses of methadone
allowed them to reduce their dependencies