People Are Insane

So a few months back I mentioned there is a new drug making the rounds called Krokodil. It's a mixture of codeine and harmless things like gasoline or paint thinner. It has one major side effect: your skin falls off.

Of course it comes from Russia, where they'll apparently drink or inject anything for a momentary high. But to their credit, at least they didn't shoot the drug into their genitals. Because, y'know, your skin falls off

According to José Sotero Ruiz Hernández, an official with Mexico's National Institute of Migration, a 17-year-old girl in Puerto Vallarta presented lacerations to her genitals that she said were caused by her addiction to krokodil.

"The young woman who used this drug had an infection that had rotted her genitals. It wasn't sexually transmitted. She said she'd been using krokodil for the last two months," Hernandez said, according to a Huffington Post translation of Mexican newspaper El Periodico Correo.

It's not like it's hard to find out that this shit rots your skin. How far past the pale do you have to be to willing shoot a flesh-rotting cocktail of crap into your business?

Oh, here's why they do it:

It is significantly cheaper than heroin, and reportedly ten times as potent.

I guess in their minds, the "cheap high > rotting junk" equation makes sense.

Perhaps We Should Drug-Test Representatives?

This may or may not be FL Rep. Trey Radel

So Florida Rep. Trey Radel (R) voted back in September for an amendment to a food stamps bill (SPOILER: Republicans voted to cut food funding) that would allow SNAP recipients to get drug-tested by the states. Because as we all know, if you are poor you are obviously using drugs. This is always a very popular thing for Republicans to insist upon despite it being a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Anyone care to guess where this is going? I think you already know where it's going.

A first-term Florida Republican congressman has been charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, according to charges filed in Washington, D.C., superior court on Tuesday.

Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., faces arraignment on Wednesday in Washington. He was arrested on Oct. 29 for alleged possession of cocaine, which was first reported by Politico. The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 180 days of imprisonment and/or a fine of $1,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

He responded with the usual apologies and that the silver lining is now he can get treatment! You know, the kind of treatment he regularly votes to cut funding for when the coke addicts are poor people as opposed to House Representatives.

Added bonus: he's a Tea Party adherent! Because of course he is.

Fifty Shades of Acyclovir

When you really think about it, this story isn't all that surprising.

Two Belgian university professors decided to apply their knowledge of toxicology screenings to the 10 most borrowed books at the Antwerp library.

...

While the experts found that all 10 books contained traces of cocaine–enough so that people who touched the books wouldn’t feel the effects, but might test positive for the drug–they also found something pretty gross: Fifty Shades of Grey, your weird aunt’s favorite mainstream erotic series, tested positive for traces of the herpes virus.

First of all...gross, Belgium. Really, really gross.

Second...I shudder to think what we would find on a book in a library in New York or Dallas or any other major US metropolitan area.

Third...Books are for reading, people. Not some coke-fueled herpes party.

What's a Little Skin Loss Between Druggies?

This is some seriously fucked-up shit.

Krokodil, already a popular drug in Russia, has finally made its way to the United States. The Banner Poison Control Center in Arizona has reported two cases of the flesh-rotting drug’s use, believed to be the first in the US.

The drug is a mixture of codeine and hydrocarbons like gasoline, paint thinner, or oil that is injected directly into veins. It’s named krokodil because once injected, it rots your skin from the inside out, causing an alligator skin-like appearance.

First off, is anyone surprised this started in Russia? This is the same country that decided drinking anti-freeze made for a great apéritif. Thanks, guys. Thanks a whole lot.

Second of all...how completely fucked up do you have to be to look at this shit and decide "Yeah, my skin may fall off but at least I'll be high for a minute"? That's a level of addiction that makes regular addicts look at you like you're a fuck-up in life. Again, here are the ingredients:

Rather than shoot this shit into your veins, you could at least just huff the damn paint thinner, Yes, it's bad for you but at least you don't look like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.