The Next Wave of Designer Drugs

Spice and bath salt have been available in head shops and on-line for several years. The availability of these drugs increased rapidly over the last year. At Calvary Center we have been seeing the terrible effects these drugs can have on patients. Patients that present influenced by these drugs have extremely elevated heart rates and delusional thoughts. After several days of being off these drugs patients have reported tactile hallucinations (skin-crawling), panic attacks and severe anxiety. None have ever reported the experience to be pleasant.

Recent laws passed by the federal government are finally being enacted and these two drugs are becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain. However because of the nature of supply and demand, a new set of designer drugs may soon be available in the same manner as spice and bath salt. It is possible that Dragonfly and Crocodile may be the next “designer drugs” to invade America.

Dragonfly

Dragonfly is an extremely powerful hallucinogen. It is similar to LSD but the effects can last up to 48 hours. Once administered, it can take up to six hours before effects are noticed by the user. This increases the potential for overdose as the user assumes they did not take enough to feel the effects.

One description of this drug states that it is like a mixture of LSD, spice and bath salt combined in one. This works to make it a very powerful Serotonin agonist. It appears to have a very strong and long binding affinity at the receptor site. Users have reported the experience to be, “Like being dragged to hell and back,” and “It never seemed like it was going to end.”

It has been banned in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. In the United States two young men died of an overdose in May, 2011. They reportedly made a serious miscalculation and took 100 times the normal dose. They experienced massive seizures, vomiting blood and terrifying hallucinations. Witnesses report still being affected by the event to this day.

Because of the duration the drug binds to Serotonin receptors sites the potential for damage throughout the body is increased. As neurotransmitters continue to fire uncontrolled, users can experience intestinal spasms and even spasms in the blood vessels themselves. In the short-term, this could cause a release of fluid into the lungs which eventually causes cardiac arrest. The long-term effects are unknown, but nothing good can come from stressing the body’s systems so severely.

 

Crocodile

 Desomorphine is an opiate analog that has been around since 1932. It is a derivative of morphine. A surge in desomorphine occurred in Russia last year due to the availability of codeine tablets without a prescription. Several household chemicals are involved to convert the codeine tablets into desomorphine such as paint thinner, acid, iodine and phosphorous. This process is similar to methamphetamine production using pseudoephedrine tablets. The result is a very impure highly toxic compound that is reportedly ten times more powerful than morphine. The drug is then routinely injected with no further purification process. The desired effect has a quick onset but effects do not last long. It is not uncommon for a user to engage in an endless cycle of cooking and shooting all day long.

This drug’s street name in Russia is krokodil. It receives its name due to the effects it has on the injection site and surrounding tissues. Because of the impurities severe tissue damage occurs. The injection site and surrounding tissues soon develop phlebitis and gangrene. In less severe cases the skin becomes discolored and scaly (crocodile-like). In more severe cases, the skin and muscles actually disintegrate and bone is exposed. Photos of these more severe cases are available online. I want to warn you that the images can be quite disturbing. These individuals look more like survivors of a shark attack rather than drug attics. The amount of tissue damage is so high that life expectancies are said to be as low as two to three years.

If these two drugs do make their way into the mainstream of America the results will be devastating. We cannot rely on the government to regulate these new drugs as fast as chemists can alter them. It seems the more we regulate and outlaw these drugs, the more lethal the next batch becomes. It would seem our best plan of action would be to parallel the former meth campaign. Make the base drug hard to obtain (such as pseudoephedrine) and flood the public with education and graphic images.