It’s called “the most horrible drug in the world” — and it’s come to Illinois.
Dr. Abhin Singala, a specialist at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center in the Chicago suburb of Joliet, said he’s treating three people who took “krokodil,” a cheap heroin knockoff from Russia known to cause such extreme gangrene and abscesses that a user’s muscles, tendons and bones can become exposed.
“If you want to kill yourself, this is the way to do it,” Singla said according to the Sun-Times.
According to Joliet Patch, Singla is treating what appear to be the first cases of krokodil reported in the Chicago metro area.
“As of late as last week, the first cases – a few people in Utah and Arizona – were reported to have been using the heroin-like drug, which rots the skin from the inside out,” Singala said in a Tuesday press release. “It is a horrific way to get sick. The smell of rotten flesh permeates the room. Intensive treatment and skin grafts are required, but they often are not enough to save limbs or lives.”

