What Happens To Your Body When You Do Krokodil, The “Zombie Drug”

Published November 7, 2015
Updated December 1, 2017

The drug currently known as krokodil was born in the early 1930s as desomorphine, a fast-acting medical alternative to morphine. But by the 1990s, Russian doctors began noticing reptilian patches of skin on some drug addicts in Siberia and Far East Russia.

Today, the drug’s cheap, concentrated power makes it ideal for smuggling all over the world–including, recently, the United States. And those scaly patches are just the beginning. The effects of krokodil–fittingly, also known as the “zombie drug” or “cannibal heroin”–get far, far worse…

Krokodil Thigh Flesh
Krokodil Ripped Flesh
Krokodil Elbow Flesh
Krokodil User Injecting
What Happens To Your Body When You Do Krokodil, The “Zombie Drug”
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VICE went to Russia to learn more about the zombie drug — you can check out its chilling effects in the video below:

If you liked this post on krokodil, check out our other features on life inside the home of a Mexican drug lord and fascinating facts about Pablo Escobar. Then read up on the dangerous drug known as Devil's Breath (a.k.a. burundanga). And be sure to like All That Is Interesting on Facebook!

author
Richard Stockton
author
Richard Stockton is a freelance science and technology writer from Sacramento, California.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.
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Stockton, Richard. "What Happens To Your Body When You Do Krokodil, The “Zombie Drug”." AllThatsInteresting.com, November 7, 2015, https://allthatsinteresting.com/krokodil. Accessed August 10, 2025.