Eliza Ronalds-Hannon describes the unintended consequences of recent law enforcement success in the European war against heroin:
In Norway, users turned to buprenorphine, a semi-synthetic often used to treat heroin addiction, but intoxicating and addictive in higher doses. In Hungary, cathinones gained popularity. That substance – an ingredient in the drug mixes known as “bath salts” in the U.S. – is part stimulant, part opioid. Slovakia, too, went for uppers – there, methamphetamine use surged. In Bulgaria, a mysterious substance known as “white heroin” cropped up; reports vary regarding its makeup. Buprenorphine also swept the country of Georgia, which previously never had much of a heroin problem.
One of the worst replacements is a homemade drug called “Krokodil”:
Krokodil users cook codeine – which can be found in many over-the-counter medicines in Russia – with iodine and other household ingredients to create a powerful homemade high. But the result is so deadly the average life span of a user is under a year. The drug gets its name from the appearance of its addicts; their flesh rots from the inside out, leaving the skin as scaly as a crocodile’s.
“It can totally destroy the nervous system,” said Georgia’s Tamaz Mchedlidze, who explained that in Georgia the Krokodil recipe also includes liquid toilet cleaner, and gasoline. The latter is a controversial ingredient, Mchedlidze noted; “some junkies insist on using Wissol gasoline, while others say you should use Rompetrol,” he said, referring to two brand names of gasoline.
The Dish 
