YouTube still from Krokodil Video

I used to be an addict.

I still am in some ways, but I quit using drugs/alcohol/cigarettes about 7 years ago. If there's one thing I understand, it's addiction. I wrote about it in my book. However, even during the height of my addiction which was mostly to alcohol, I had some semblance of self-preservation. I decided early on that I wouldn't venture into heroin, meth or anything else you can shoot up. Basically, I was a privileged drug addict and I had the ability to choose wisely how to get high. I was by no means rich, but I always had just enough money to get drunk. Most people in the world today don't have enough money to carefully consider their drug of choice.

Welcome to the new flesh-eating, dirt-cheap drug Krokodil........You cannot unsee this video. It's amazing, creative, beautiful and disturbing:

What the hell is Krokodil?

A relatively new street drug called Krokodil is like herion but more concentrated and way cheaper. It's mostly found in Russia. Krokodil is cooked with other toxins and these toxins are not removed before injected. Krokodil can destroy bone, flesh and organs in your body, and can also turn your skin green like a crocodile's. Heroin addicts live between 4-7 years while Krokodil addicts live 1 or 2 years. It's estimated that there may be a million Krokodil addicts worldwide now. The high from Krokodil lasts a few hours, so many addicts are completely consumed with cooking and injecting it.

Krokodil gets its name from the fact that the caustic drug causes an addict’s skin to become green, scaly and bumpy like a crocodile’s. If the drug misses a vein and is injected into flesh, that flesh will develop abscesses. It is common for addicts to develop gangrene and require amputations. The flesh on some body parts affected by krokodil injections will rot off completely, leaving bare bone. -http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/krokodil.html

YouTube still from Krokodil Video

The desire to escape one's current reality in the world is a feeling that is increasing, I think.

Although it is true that human beings are better off than ever before, I think the access to information has made people painfully aware of how their shitty little lives measure up to the advertised ideals. Once you find out that your idiot colleague is making twice as much money as you, rage takes over. Becoming cognizant of the unfair world is a massive source of ills. That's human nature. It's inescapable.

Many people wish their circumstances were different, especially those without access to resources or those experiencing extremely high levels of isolation and suffering.

We are largely the result of our geography and status. My father still gets a small check in the mail from some oil company because my grandfather had land. I have had access to resources my entire life and even though I experienced poverty for several years, I was still able to eat and provide enough for my daughter's survival. But those things didn't prevent me from becoming an addict.

Addicts want to escape from horrible feelings.

Most addicts end up doing horrible shit to themselves and/or to other people. The source of much of this is based in self-loathing. Once you are immersed deep in the self-loathing doom pit, you will do anything to claw your way out of it. This is where drugs gain their free pass into your personal hell. You then seek to escape from the reality that you've done horrible stuff, so you use drugs to escape. While on drugs, you gain temporary relief but you end up doing more bad stuff, which makes you feel even worse the next day. You seek to forget what you have done, and use more drugs to that end. The cycle is now firmly established and the addiction takes over your life. Pretty soon a massive depression, in part caused by the drugs themselves takes hold, and then you need to continue taking drugs just in order to function somewhat normally.

At least that is how mine started.

Deep, dark emotions were my downfall. And once you start chasing the elusive highs, you're basically doomed because "real life" simply cannot compete with drugs in a neurochemical way to your brain. I still chase highs, but I no longer ingest substances to get those highs.

YouTube still from Krokodil Video

I think you'd probably be wise just to pass on Krokodil if ever it crosses your path. Another drug to pass on is flakka which basically turns you into a zombie. I think legalizing drugs would immediately get rid of these types of cheap street drugs that basically destroy people from the inside out.

Stellabelle is the author of Un-Crap Your Life: Navigating Life's Crappiest Situations and co-author of Steemit 101.