Krokodil, the skin-eating drug, may have claimed its first U.S. victim. The heroin-like drug, which originated in Russia began cropping up in the U.S. last month and has been found in Utah, Arizona and Illinois recently.
The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics is investigating the deaths of two Oklahoma men who are linked to the drug, KSWO reported. One of those men is 33-year-old Justin McGree, who died last year. McGee’s friend Chelle Fancher said McGee had taken Krokodil.
“(His) skin was missing,” she told KOCO Oklahoma City. “The doctors say it ate him from the inside out. It wasn’t until the next day that they told us that is was Krokodil meth.”
The drug is an opiate, but like meth is made from crude materials that are readily available, such as gasoline. If the deaths are connected to Krokodil, the drug may have been in the U.S. earlier than authorities have suspected.