What is Krokodil?
Krokodil is desomorphine, a synthetic opiate many times more powerful than heroin that is created from a complex chain of mixing and chemical reactions, which the addicts perform from memory several times a day. This addictive drug is called krokodil because it turns the user’s skin a scaly green color. Soon it rots the flesh, causing the user’s skin to emulate that of a crocodile, leaving bone and muscle tissue exposed to the world. The chemical behind krokodil, desomorphine, it is available as a morphine substitute shortly after laboratory synthesis in 1992. Desomorphine is eight to ten times more potent than morphine. The medicinal use of desomorphine was concentrated to Europe, particularly Switzerland. The synthetic opiate has a structure nearly identical to heroin. Codeine, a readily available narcotic, can be turned into desomorphine in a relatively easy series of chemical reactions, and then injected intravenously by the user. Whereas heroin may cost $150 US and up per use, krokodil can be obtained for $6 to $8 US per injection.
The problem is not necessarily desomorphine addiction, it’s the fact that krokodil users are unable to make pure enough final product prior to use. When performed in a lab, the transformation of codeine into desomorphine is rather easy, three step synthesis. When cooked in kitchen lab, however, krokodil users often lack for materials, and thus use gasoline as a solvent along with red phosphorous, iodine, and hydrochloric as reactants to synthesize desomorphine from codeine tablets. The final product is often an impure, orange-colored liquid, with this impurity causing skin irritation, a scale-like look, and eventual destruction of the skin. This is likely due to the presence of hydrochloric acid still in the final liquid solution prior to injection, with red phosphorous, obtained by solvating and