Barf, that’s nasty.
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I was about to suggest a catheter directly into the brain, but then I realized that when we’re there already, putting an electrode right to the pleasure centers would be better.
Random thought. Array of ultrasonic transducers, externally applied to the skull, for topical stimulation without the electrodes. Or maybe transcranial magnetic stimulation. Both may be within reach of highly skilled highly determined small team of semiamateurs.
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aaaand, 22 posts to an independent development of the Orgasmatron: A NEW RECORD!!!
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“…necrosis at the injection sites…”?
You’d think that the nurses who are stationed at those injections sites would be making sure that the place is a little cleaner, eh. Maybe the janitors are union…
“Many men have tried to change the Water of Life.”
“They tried and failed?”
“Oh no. They tried and died.”
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That would be wireheading (or a tasp if a remote version):
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Employers and parole officers are under no obligation to respect medical marijuana cards.
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Allrightythen
@humbabella: achievement unlocked, Purveyor of Nightmare Fuel.
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You call that nightmares?
That’s better.
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Besides the fact that most of the synthetic cannabinoids used don’t trip urine drug tests, Spice is a completely different kind of high from good ol’ reliable weed.
It’s very intense, and almost psychedelic, and only lasts a few minutes returning you to nearly normal cognition. None of which is a feature of weed.
Basically, it’s convenient for a quick high, and is very intense. When I used to smoke it, I was reminded of Bender’s trip when he abused electricity in Futurama.
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It’s not exactly Krokodil that causes necrosis. It’s the byproducts created during the process of modifying codeine into desomorphine, as well as the fact that users of Krokodil aren’t the kind of people who worry too much about using sterile needles, and sharing.
The active ingredient is pretty safe. The problem with krokodil is that the people who make it lack the chemistry knowledge to wash it and purify the drug.
Which is also one of the major problems with Spice/K2/Damiama smoking blends. Synthetic cannabinoid analogues like JWH-018, HU-210 and CP 47,497 are all pretty safe on their own as far as we can tell. But when you add in unknown herbal material, toxic by-products, and whatever travels on the bottom of a shoe in a Chinese chem factory, you end up with toxic results.
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Sounds like it’s going to need a lot of testing. Better call the lab suppliers.
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I work in an ER. We see spice cases constantly. It can be pretty intense. Looks like a pcp overdose (except you never see those). People are totally psychotic, violent. Out of their minds. It can take 6 security guards to take down one kid. It’s way worse than dealing with your standard psychotic patient.
Once a nurse pointed out that 25% of the patients in the department were spice patients. Which is just insane. Tied up a massive amount of resources.
I had a kid who once he cleared was just absolutely charming. I asked him why he did it and he said because it was cheaper than pot, significantly, and you could buy it in the store. He said he would never do it again. I told him what had happened prior to him clearing and he couldn’t fathom his behavior.
5 years in the ER yet to see a single crocodil case, never heard of one either. There’s plenty of badness to go around with your normal every day drugs.
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There’s no evidence that Krokodil has ever been made and used in the US. The big scare a few years back turned out to be a hoax. Still is relatively common in Russia though.
The ugly thing about ‘krokodil’ is that (while abundantly habit forming, as is common in its family) desomorphine didn’t generate any particularly notable horror stories during its career as an anesthetic. It’s the assorted delightful things in the ‘improvised from codeine and assorted household chemicals by non-chemists preparing the next batch under the influence of the last batch’ version that cause all the really gross damage.
This isn’t to say that addiction to a really punchy opiate is a good choice in hobbies or anything; but it’s yet another case where the actual drug is markedly less scary than the black market version.
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Apparently the street drug is made with thionyl chloride as the excess reagent. I wouldn’t inject that into my system for money, much less to get high. It evolves gases on contact with water, which is a lot of what you’re made of, and that’s assuming they are roughly competent and aren’t doing weird stuff or working with impure materials. I’m reminded of when someone told me that addicts will sometimes mix morphine with vinegar to get heroin. This is a weak attempt at Fischer esterfication, that I myself once tried when first learning about organic chemistry. (I tried to make ethyl acetate.) It doesn’t work, but at least it’s probably not going to hurt you.
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That is a good point (and @fuzzyfungus as well). So many issues with drugs could be fixed by legalization. But as an example of horrible things that people will do to themselves to get high, and the street drug called Krokodil (as opposed to the pharmaceutical desomorphine) does pretty nicely.
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