Krokodil Research Paper

The article I read about was on a drug called Krokodil. Maria Katselou, Ioannis Papoutsis, Panagiota Nikolaou, Chara Spiliopoulou, and Sotiris Athanaselis provide insightful information about this drug in their article A “Krokodil” emerges from the murky waters of addiction. Abuse trends of an old drug. With a street name of “Krokodil” it is astonishing what this new/old drug is capable of. Krokodil was first seen in places like Russia and other former Soviet Republics, as of lately it has arrived in the United States as well as Europe. The popularity of this liquid drug came due to the fact that it is being purchased by those who cannot afford the more expensive drug heroine usually between the ages of 18 and 25.. As with most cases, this drug came about because the classic drugs are now restricted. With the restriction, they try to work around it and come up
with a drug or fabricate an old drug to give the same effects (Katselou, Papoutsis, Nikolaou, Spiliopoulou, & Athanaselis, 2014). Krokodil is not a new drug, as a matter of fact the name of it is Desomorphine, a homemade product that has been on the market for that past decade or so. It is characterized as a flesh eating/rotting drug because its rots the flesh which then leaves the bone and muscle tissue exposed to infections as well as the green scaly colored skin addicts get that resembles the skin of a crocodile. Not only does this drug leave the muscle tissue and bones exposed to infection, it also results in skin damage, thrombophlebitis, disorders of the endocrine, nervous and muscular systems, sleep deprivation, memory loss, speech problems, inflammation of liver and kidneys as well as death. Lastly, this drug cuts down the life expectancy of a person with each dose of the drug and most have noticed that Krokodil abusers die within the first year of use (Kateselou et al., 2014). Since this drug is a homemade product, the samples that are found being sold on the streets come with many impurities.
It can be made with painkiller (OTC), iodine, and strong alkalines. Other possible impurities that are found in the street samples are hydrochloric acid, red phosphorus from matches and as well gasoline and paint thinner. The first step in this low cost and easily available chemicals is to extract the codeine from over-the-counter drugs in tablet form with an organic solvent like gasoline after using a strong base like potassium or sodium hydroxide. The next step in this process it to reduce the extracted codeine with iodine, hydrochloric acid and red phosphorus through a process of formation of desocodeine. After this the desocodeine is demthylated into desomorphine or Krokodil. This whole process for this drug can take up to 45 minutes which then results in the final drug which is highly contaminated with toxins and other residuals which are said to be responsible for the toxic effects. The samples itself can have traces to up to 75% of the Desomorphine content (Kateselou et al.,
2014). As of today again the popularity came from those who cannot afford the expensive drug of heroine and as well as simplicity and accessibility of its preparation. It is now classified as Schedule I drug in the United States Code Controlled Substance Act (Kateselou et al., 2014).