People who use krokodil develop scaly, black and green skin that resembles crocodile skin. Krokodil is the Russian spelling for crocodile. It goes by a few different names and spellings, including:. It was first introduced in Russia in the early s. Russia and the Ukraine seem to be most affected by the drug, but there have been reports of its use and side effects in the United States. The drug was found to be a more potent pain reliever than morphine with a shorter duration and less nausea.
Doctors continued to use the drug before and after surgery for its calming effect. This means it has a high potential for misuse without any accepted medical use. Codeine tablets are available without a prescription in Russia. Inexpensive and readily available substances are combined with the codeine to make the homemade or street version of the drug, krokodil.
The most recognized side effect of krokodil is scaly green and black skin that develops shortly after injecting the drug.
According to reports , people develop significant swelling and pain in the area where the drug is injected. This is followed by skin discoloration and scaling. Eventually large areas of ulceration occur where the tissue dies. The damage is believed to be at least partly caused by the toxic effect of the additives used to make the drug, most of which are erosive to skin.
Reference lists of included articles were manually screened for additional publications. Results Thirteen articles were included in this review. In total patients were described in the included publications, mainly retrospective clinical case series and case reports. Eleven studies reported on osteonecrosis of the jaw and two studies reported on other physical and oral side effects associated with desomorphine abuse.
Whether you need residential treatment , a partial hospitalization program , or intensive outpatient therapy , you will have the chance to recover fully from the grips of addiction and whatever other co-occurring mental health disorders you might be going through.
Lastly, veterans should have specialized treatment opportunities that take all of their experiences into consideration. Veterans are more likely than members of the general population to struggle with conditions like PTSD , substance use disorder, and others. In addition to this, veterans have a unique path through life that looks different than civilian patients who need addiction treatment. So it only seems right that veterans get the type of care that works specifically for them.
And with many veterans on staff, we follow a philosophy that is all about veterans serving veterans. Here, you will get to work with your fellow service members to understand just what it means to recover from addictions to opioids, alcohol, etc. If you are ready to leave the krokodil addiction behind, give us a call at Not quite feeling ready to talk? Please note: For medical emergencies, please call For other urgent matters, please call our admissions line Submissions after-hours, weekends, or holidays may experience a longer response time.
Review Us. Ready to take the next step? Fill out our confidential form Confidential Form. Due to the high dependence potential and the toxicity of Krokodil, the mean survival time after first use is reported to be 2 years.
The victims of Krokodil are usually young people between ages 18 and 25, who turn to this drug for economic reasons.
Desomorphine is an opioid analgesic that was first synthesized in the United States in It was originally synthesized with the intention of creating an alternative to morphine with an improved side effect profile. However desomorphine showed increased dependence potential compared to morphine. It was found to exhibit a faster onset and shorter duration of action than morphine, with less nausea and respiratory depression.
It is a potent? It is almost entirely free from the emetic effects that morphine has. Its chemical structure renders desomorphine more lipophilic than morphine favoring penetration in the brain leading to a higher analgesic potency. It has 8 to 10 times higher analgesic potency, faster onset of action, and shorter half-life compared with morphine, which accounts for its increased addictive potential. Due to this short elimination half-life, patients with desomorphine dependence inject more frequently than those with heroin dependence.
The simple and cheap domestic production process involves boiling mg of codeine with a diluting agent mostly paint thinner that may contain lead, zinc or ferrous agents , gasoline, hydrochloric acid, iodine, and red phosphorous which is scraped from the striking surfaces on matchboxes. In this process, desomorphine is generated from codeine 3-methylmorphine via two intermediate steps? The process takes minutes.
The final product is a suspension that contains desomorphine as the psychoactive core, along with all other agents involved in the production process. There are various primary substances that can be used for the manufacture of Krokodil, so the chemical composition likely varies between users.
The suspension is used intravenously without using any sort of filter, accounting for the tremendous tissue damage that occurs. Sometimes a weak base, such as cigarette ash or bicarbonate is added after the reaction is complete, however this is insufficient to raise the pH over 3. Repeated administration of desomorphine can cause physical and psychological dependency, tolerance and a withdrawal syndrome if the substance is no longer used, similar to heroin.
Other effects are similar to those of opiates such as miosis, flushing, constipation, urinary retention, nausea, vomiting, sedation and respiratory depression.
Specifically with Krokodil, due to the high degree of contamination with various toxic byproducts, injection of Krokodil causes immediate tissue damage to blood vessels, muscle and bone.
Multisystem organ dysfunction can occur including thyroid due to iodine and cartilage due to phosphorus. Heavy metal poisoning can also occur with chronic use.
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