Could Flesh-Eating Drug 'Krokodil' Become Popular in US?

Image credit: fritscdejong on Flickr, via io9.com

October 21, 2013 - Krokodil is a deadly, nightmarish synthetic heroine. It may be just hitting the United States after becoming popular in Russia about three years ago. The effects of Krokodil are hellish: Gangrene, rotting flesh, green scaly skin, and death are just some symptoms of use.

"While methamphetamine and heroin are guaranteed to give you a slow, painful death, if you want to speed up the process, take this drug," said DEA supervisory agent Sue Thomas, as quoted by Deseret News on October 6. "If you just want to speed up and horrify the death process a little more, take this drug. It will rot you from the inside out, leaving you with gaping wounds that will leave bones exposed, horrible abscesses and it's a horrific death," she said. The same Deseret News article noted that "Recently, two cases of people using Krokodil were confirmed in Arizona. Thomas said that's concerning to Utah DEA agents." (My emphasis added.)

Even so, writer Adam Taylor says that Krokodil will not sweep America. He said so in an October 21 article in Business Insider, titled "Why Russia's Flesh-Eating Drug 'Krokodil' Won't Sweep Through America." Taylor even seems to doubt that Krokodil is in the U.S., referring to "alleged U.S. cases." Note, however, that DEA's agent Thomas acknowledged the presence of Krokodil in two confirmed cases in Arizona. Note also that on October 9 Business Insider ran an article by Michael Kelley titled "Russia's Terrifying Form Of 'Homemade Heroin' Seems To Be Spreading Across The US."

"The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has released a statement for the public to be aware of Krokodil, a drug allegedly from Russia," reported International Business Times on October 14. "Jack Riley, special agent-in-charge of DEA Chicago Field Division, said the agency was 'very concerned' about the news of patients being treated at Presence St Joseph Medical Center."

Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor seems to be at odds with reality, the media and the DEA in saying that Krokodil cannot become popular ("sweep") in America. In fact, he's at odds with himself. Taylor based his October 21 argument largely on the fact that codeine, a key ingredient of Krokodil "is easy to obtain in Russia" but "In America, it isn't."

Taylor contradicts himself: On September 26, Business Insider published his article titled "Russia's Horrifying Flesh-Eating Drug 'Krokodil' Reportedly Spreads Into The United States." In that piece, Taylor wrote that "the U.S. now had its first two recorded cases of the use of Desomorphine, also known as 'krokodil.' The drug is made using readily available codeine...." (Emphasis added.)

Tony Bennett Blames War On Drugs For Whitney Houston's Death

Houston  (L) and Bennett (R)  (AP photos; via salon.com)

February 14, 2012 - Non-genius Tony Bennett, 85, is a great singer and, from all accounts, a nice guy. Trouble is, he's also a dim bulb, and says that the War on Drugs is to blame for the death of Whitney Houston.

Bennett said that while on stage at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy gala on Saturday, February 11.

He took the opportunity to politicize Houston's death. "Let's legalize drugs like they did in Amsterdam," he told the audience, "No one's hiding or sneaking around corners to get it. They go to a doctor to get it."

There is so much that's wrong with that statement, and with the rest of what he said, that it has gotten a lot of criticism, even from those likely to be supportive of the octogenarian crooner. The Hollywood Reporter noted the weirdness:

Bennett's statements come months after Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for his involvement in prescribing and administering a fatal dose of the drug propofol. Winehouse, who had battled addiction for many years, died in July of alcohol poisoning. While the cause of Houston's death is not yet known, the singer was said to have fought addiction in recent years.

From Salon.com, Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote this example of Bennett's dimness:

Just hours after the news of the singer’s death, Bennett was at a Grammys event in the Beverly Hills Hilton – where Houston died just a few floors above – and said, “First it was Michael Jackson, then there was Amy Winehouse, and now the magnificent Whitney Houston. I’d like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get on government to legalize drugs … Let’s legalize drugs like they did in Amsterdam. No one’s hiding or sneaking around corners to get it. They go to a doctor to get it.”

Let's try to understand Bennett's muddled thinking: People should "go to a doctor" to get their drugs, he said, in the same breath in which he cites drug overdose victim Michael Jackson. Uhm, didn't Michael Jackson get his drugs from his doctor? Why yes! He did! Somebody tell Tony Bennett about that, okay?

Let's assume that the poison that Whitney Houston was using had been legal, as Tony Bennett says it should have been. Would that have prevented her from overdosing and/or using it so excessively that it contributed to her death? Did the War on Alcohol contribute to any booze related deaths last year? What? There is no War on Alcohol? Well, see? That's my point. Legalization does not prevent abuse. Ask any alcoholic.

Indeed, Salon.com kinda sorta thinks along these lines as well. Williams wrote:

Yet what really muddles the waters is the examples Bennett used, of Michael Jackson and his friend Amy Winehouse. The claim that “Once it’s legal and everybody can do it” problems go away is sadly untrue. Michael Jackson didn’t meet his maker shooting heroin into his veins; he died of “Acute Propofol Intoxication” — and his doctor, Conrad Murray, was subsequently convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Other drugs found in Jackson’s system at the time of his death were the FDA-approved Lorazepam, Lidocaine, Diazepam and Midazolam. Winehouse, meanwhile, died of alcohol poisoning.

See? That's my point. For Tony Bennett to say that the absence of a War on Drugs would have saved Whitney Houston is so profoundly naive that it makes him sound like a serious Libertarian. Bennett should, as they say, just shut up and sing. The sooner he shuts up the better, too...

In September, 2011 Bennett caused a firestorm of resentment when he told Howard Stern that America was to blame for the 9/11 terror attacks. “They flew the plane in, but we caused it,” he said on Stern's live broadcast. Bennett soon issued an apology, but the damage was already done to his credibility with a lot of people. The more recent statement about Whitney Houston being a victim of the War on Drugs does not exactly help his public relations efforts.

Related articles

• Whitney Houston Found Submerged in Bathtub (theatlanticwire.com)
• Better Than Whitney, Hands Down (chicagonewsbench.com)
• A Lot of People Thought Oprah Was Whitney Houston on Facebook [Rip] (gizmodo.com)

Top Mexico Drug Lord 'El Chango' Captured Alive

June 21, 2011 - One of the head honchos of Mexico's "La Familia" was captured by Mexican federal agents today. (Video below, en Espanol) Officials call the arrest of Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, also known as 'El Chango' or 'The Monkey,' a major blow to the drug cartel. He was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords, He was taken down in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes. Authorities say there was no struggle in the arrest. Although they have reason to celebrate, Mexican authorities know all too well that other cartel leaders will quickly move to replace him in the hierarchy. However, there are probably even some drug cartel leaders who are happy about El Chango's arrest. The competition among rival crime gangs, after all, is fierce and deadly. Mendez Vargas was "locked in an especially deadly internal fight in recent months," reports the Los Angeles Times. He led a faction of La Familia, says their report, that was a "ruthless and sometimes cult-like network that authorities say specializes in producing and shipping methamphetamine to the United States. La Familia is based in Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon and a region strategically important for drug trafficking because of its rough terrain and large seaport." More about the arrest of Mendez Vargas at the LA Times...

Ron Paul's Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011 Would Benefit All Americans

"Over 25,000 products can be manufactured from hemp, from cellophane to dynamite." ~ Popular Mechanics, 1938 The knee-jerk reaction by some to the suggestion that we legalize industrial hemp is both amusing and distressing. They are ignorant of the fact that hemp is NOT the same as marijuana. Their fear comes from being closed minded and from having bought into the anti-hemp lies and propaganda. Out of ignorance, they accuse those who favor industrial hemp of being soft on drug use. They are just plain wrong. See videos below... On May 11, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced legislation that would legalize industrial hemp farming in the U.S. for the first time since 1970. Paul's bill, H.R.1831 is the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011" and it is intended to "amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marihuana." (See full text of HR 1831) We need to legalize industrial hemp. It's useful as a source of fuel, fibers, medicines, even food. This should NOT be a politicized issue. This variety of hemp is NOT the same as its marijuana cousin and has little or none of the THC that drug users value. Industrial hemp contains less than 1% of THC, which is the psychoactive component in marijuana. "Trying to get high on industrial hemp," wrote Mike Wrona at "is akin to trying to get drunk on non-alcohol beer." The North American Industrial Hemp Council, Inc. (NAIHC) agrees. "Due to the similar leaf shape," the NAIHC website says, "hemp is frequently confused with marijuana. Although both plants are from the species cannabis, hemp contains virtually no THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in marijuana. Hemp cannot be used as a drug because it produces virtually no THC (less than 1%), where marijuana produces between 5 - 20 % THC." Wrona was quoting directly from another piece on hemporganic.com, which sells tee shirts made of organic cotton and hemp. Nevertheless, they give interesting information about industrial hemp. Wrona prefaced his copy-paste of hemporganic's piece by noting that "South Dakota was first [to ask] the federal government for permission to grow industrial hemp. Just recently Vermont has asked for the same consideration." It is shameful that any state should have to ask the federal government permission to grow a harmful and extremely useful crop. (I, and many others, would argue that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to deny a state that right.) Many of my fellow conservatives are completely ignorant of the value of industrial hemp and automatically assume that it's marijuana. They freak out, because of ignorance, believing that the (re)legalization of non-marijuana hemp is equivalent to legalizing marijuana, and therefore they see this as being soft on drug use. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the War on Drugs except that it is wrongly associated with it by knee-jerk ignoramuses. "When the U.S. was in its infancy in 1776," wrote The Red Phoenix, "one plant was considered so important to national independence that it was required that a set amount of acreage be given to it. That crop? Was it wheat? No. Cotton? No. Corn? No. Tobacco? Certainly not. That crop was hemp. Even back then, humans knew the value of the long, strong fibers that this plant produces. In fact, these fibers are the strongest natural fibers known to mankind." Red Phoenix wrapped up by saying, "Given the uses in food, fiber and fuel alone, even if we ignored the medicinal properties of this plant, we have every reason to demand in this world where food is scarce, where fiber is needed for paper and clothes and where oil, our primary fuel is running out, to demand that American farmers be allowed to grow this useful product." How do you argue with that from an informed, rational standpoint? You can't. To oppose that requires you to be ignorant of facts, unwilling to accept the facts because you are blinded by ideology, and to assume that industrial hemp is the same as smokable marijuana because of your ignorance.

JAMAICA IN CRISIS, "AT WAR WITH ITSELF" (UPDATE 4)

Kingston, Jamaica - Jamaica's capital continues to be a war zone, as more than 1,000 police and soldiers "assaulted a public housing complex occupied by heavily armed gangsters defending an alleged drug lord wanted by the U.S., waging a major offensive in the heart of West Kingston's ramshackle slums." (Associated Press) The man they are after is Christopher "Dudus" Coke (photo). Update: Siege in Kingston now "quieter," but continues. Could flare up again any moment... BBC video report (updated at 2:08 GMT, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 3:08 UK) In another report, by AFP, hospital sources "said they saw more than 60 bodies, although police put the death toll at 27. But Prime Minister Bruce Golding warned the figures would likely rise, and police late Tuesday reported several murders." Gunshots and large explosions can be seen and heard in the capitol city, and the violence is said to be spreading. The Kingston airport was closed intermittently yesterday and is reportedly closed again today. (Press TV) Some excellent video reports to bring to your attention: The first, by CNN, posted today at 9:36 a.m. EDT. The others are posted at Jamaica News Network (JNN) Nightly News (via RadioJamaica). JNN has a series of reports posted, allowing you to see the history of this story as it developed. The Jamaica Gleaner reports this morning that "The armed forces yesterday strongly repelled the relentless firepower of gunmen, allegedly from Fletcher's Land, who launched an assault on the Central Police Station in Jamaica's capital, Kingston.... The gunmen, apparently emboldened by the attacks on six police stations a day earlier, turned their venom on the Central Police Station. But alert crime fighters hit back with a vengeance, resulting in a fierce gun battle around the headquarters of Kingston CIB. A day earlier, the Hannah Town Police Station was attacked, pillaged and burnt. So too were the Fletcher's Land, Darling Street and Denham Town stations in western Kingston. The Spanish Town and Cross Roads stations were also fired on." The Jamaica Observer gives a chilling reports that "criminal gangs aligned to the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) in the Maxfield Avenue area of Whitfield Town are being paid up to $100,000 per day to join in the.... resistance to the security forces' attempt to arrest Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke." This has frightening implications: If Coke can hire more criminals, and if the anti-government sentiment is flamed, this bad situation could become much worse. AFP reports that his supporters say Coke "is a local hero for helping residents pay bills, and even send children to school. Coke himself says he is merely a businessman. His supporters have stockpiled arms, attacked police and set up barricades around Tivoli Gardens, which is also the parliamentary district of Prime Minister Bruce Golding." The U.S. Dept. of State has warned Jamaican officials that "The possibility exists that unrest could spread beyond the general Kingston area." The State Dept. also warns travelers to avoid Kingston and surrounding areas. Jamaica's Ministry of National Security issued a statement on May 24: This Joint Military/Police operation is aimed at executing a warrant issued by the Courts of Jamaica for the arrest of Michael Christopher Coke otherwise called "Dudus" as well as to restore the area to stability after three consecutive days of barricading by criminal elements and wanton attacks on the police force. Full Statement... MiamiNewTimes reports that Dudus "has turned a Kingston slum into his own personal bunker to avoid extradition to the U.S, has forced his country into a state of emergency. To local law-enforcement officials, the situation appears all too familiar. Coke's ultra-violent cartel, called 'The Shower Posse' for its members tendency to indiscriminately shower enemies and bystanders alike, seized South Florida in the late-'80s."