Russia's Home-Brewed Drug Crisis

摘要

Crystal meth, synthesized in small-scale labs across the United States, exacts a harsh physical toll, rotting users' gums and eating away at their teeth. But math's ill effects pale in comparison to those of an intravenous home-brewed opiate now sweeping through Russia. The drug's nickname, krokodil, comes from a grisly sign of use: Tissue around the injection site dies and results in patches of skin that turn greenish gray and scaly, like the hide of a crocodile.