Crocodile Drug, Russia's New Epidemic, Hits Youth

The Curse Of The Crocodile: Russia's Deadly Designer Drug
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The new arrivals at the drug rehab center in Chichevo, a tiny village two hours' drive east of Moscow, are usually given two weeks without chores to recover from the nausea, pain and sleeplessness of withdrawal. After that, between Bible study and prayer (the center is run by Pentecostals) they have to start chopping firewood, hauling water from the village well or otherwise helping around the old wooden house. But a lot more leeway was allowed in the case of Irina Pavlova, the only resident at the center who is addicted to krokodil, or crocodile, Russia's deadliest new designer drug.

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