This document summarizes information about the drug "Krokodile" or desomorphine. It is a synthetic opioid that first emerged in Russia in 2002. It is made from a combination of codeine, gasoline, paint thinner, iodine, and red phosphorus. It is much cheaper to produce than heroin but highly toxic and addictive. Use of krokodile typically results in death within 1-3 years due to issues such as infections, gangrene, and organ damage. It has spread among impoverished drug users in Russia and nearby regions due to low costs but comes with severe health risks.

1. KROKODILE
Realizado por: E.M. Víctor Enriquez

2.  'Krokodile' apareció en
Rusia en 2002 y se fue
instalando entre los
consumidores de drogas
de menos poder
adquisitivo.
 Era barata y parecía
heroína, aunque sus
efectos psicotrópicos
duran apenas dos horas.

4.  La esperanza de vida es
menos de tres años.
 Muerte por envenenamiento
de la
sangre, meningitis, neumonía
o, literalmente, podridos.
 Las autoridades
alemanas, después de
descubrir los primeros
casos, advirtieron que una
simple dosis es suficiente
para matar.

5. Alemania
 Según los datos del Observatorio Europeo de
Drogas y Toxicomanías, los casos descubiertos
en Europa occidental, por su escaso número, son
anecdóticos, pero las autoridades de la ciudad
alemana de Bochum tienen censados al menos a
cuatro personas afectadas. Y Axel
Pütter, portavoz de la policía de Bochum, dijo a
la agencia AFP que tienen conocimiento de
casos "por toda Alemania".

7. Rusia
 Según estimaciones de la prensa rusa, habría
más de un millón de adictos -entre ellos más de
100.000 menores de 18 años, todos con una tasa
de mortalidad mucho mayor que otros
consumidores de drogas.
 Adicción a heroina mata 30, 000 personas al
año.

8. krokodile
 En Rusia su expansión parece incontenible.
 People literally rot to death.
 Mr Ivanov recalled a recent visit to a drug-
treatment centre in Western Siberia. "They
told me that two years ago almost all their
drug users used heroin," said the drugs tsar.
"Now, more than half of them are on
desomorphine."

9.  Mezcla de
heroína, gasolina, codeína, disolvente para
pintura, yodo y fósforo rojo. Según los
países, cuesta de tres a diez veces menos que la
heroína y todos sus componentes son fáciles de
comprar en el mercado legal.

10.  "Over the past five years, sales of codeine-based
tablets have grown by dozens of times," says
Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russia's Drug Control
Agency. "It's pretty obvious that it's not because
everyone has suddenly developed headaches."

11.  La Heroina cuesta 20-50 euros por dosis, al
sintetizarla se puede obtener por 2 euros.
 "If you miss the vein, that's an abscess straight
away," says Sasha.
 "She won't go to hospital, she just keeps
injecting. Her flesh is falling off and she can
hardly move anymore," says Sasha.

12.  Russia tiene dos millones de usuarios de
heroina, el mayor número en el mundo.
 "With heroin withdrawal, the main symptoms
last for five to 10 days. After that there is still a
big danger of relapse but the physical pain will
be gone. With krokodil, the pain can last up to a
month, and it's unbearable. They have to be
injected with extremely strong tranquilisers just
to keep them from passing out from the pain."

13.  5% de consumidores de droga rusos aprox.
10 000 adictos consumen krokodile.
 No se necesita receta para comprar codeina.

14.  Dr Yegorov says krokodil users are instantly
identifiable because of their smell. "It's that
smell of iodine that infuses all their clothes," he
says. "There's no way to wash it out, all you can
do is burn the clothes. Any flat that has been
used as a krokodil cooking house is best
forgotten about as a place to live. You'll never
get that smell out of the flat.”

15.  Most krokodil users inject the
drug only when they run out of
money for heroin. As soon as
they earn or steal enough, they
go back to heroin. In other
more isolated regions of
Russia, where heroin is more
expensive and people are
poorer, the problem is worse.
People become full-time
krokodil addicts, giving them a
life expectancy of less than a
year.

16. "You can feel how disgusting it
is when you're doing it," he
recalls. "You're dreaming of
heroin, of something that feels
clean and not like poison. But
you can't afford it, so you keep
doing the krokodil. Until you
die."

18. Krokodil":revival of an old
drug with new problems.
Autor: Gahr, Maximilian; Freudenmann, Roland W;
Hiemke, Christoph; Gunst, Ingo M; Connemann, Bernhard J;
 Información de publicación: Substance use & misuse 47. 7 (June
2012): 861-863.
 Resumen: In order to summarize current knowledge about the drug
"Krokodil" a systematic review including a iterature search of the
databases PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google was conducted in
December 2011.
 According to information acquired, "Krokodil" is a mixture of several
substances and was first reported to have been used in Russia in
2003.
 The core agent of "Krokodil" is desomorphine, an opioid-analogue
that can be easily and cheaply manufactured by oneself. Self-
production results in a contaminated suspension that is injected
intravenously. Due to its pharmacologic features, desomorphine
shows a high potential to cause dependence.

19. Emerging drug in Ukraine:
“Crocodile” desomorphine
 Category: Epidemiology
Year: 2012
 P. Smyrnov, S. Tatyana. International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Ukraine
 Background: During a series of interviews with drug users conducted
in July 2011 in Kyiv, Ukraine, many respondents mentioned
desomorphine as a new popular street drug.
 Street desomorphine (named “crocodile”) is prepared by users from
codeine-containing pills, red phosphorus, and iodine. This drug is very
popular in neighboring Russia, but fewer reports on its use were
received from Ukraine.
 Conclusion: Analysis of data from the BSS conducted in Ukraine in
2011 suggests that in the drug scene in Ukraine, crocodile has
become a popular drug of choice; especially in some cities, it is
important to monitor its use and adjust harm reduction interventions
accordingly.

20. Desomorfina