This smells bad, because it seems so similar to something from 80s cyberpunk. A drug that comes from Russia, made from mostly easy-to-obtain precursors (except maybe the cocaine), has more kick than heroin, and it rots junkies from within. It's a perfect cyberpunk throwaway drug! Anyone remember "greenies" from Richard Kadrey's "Metrophage" (http://www.amazon.com/Metrophage-Ace-Science-Fiction-Special...)?
I expect that mainstream media will try to whip up a moral panic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic) over "krokodil", complete with horrifying billboards of "krok" addicts rotting all over each other, and admonitions to never smoke "krok", not even once! and other warnings about backing away from the "krok" pipe. This meth thing has gone on long enough for almost everyone to determine that it's not as bad as the Moral Panicers protrayed, and that having to sign for sudafed is a ginormous nuisance. FDA and DEA and BATF gotta come up with another boogie man to get even more funding. Heck, even "terrorism" is drying up as a magic word to get more funds.
I expect that mainstream media will try to whip up a moral panic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic) over "krokodil", complete with horrifying billboards of "krok" addicts rotting all over each other, and admonitions to never smoke "krok", not even once! and other warnings about backing away from the "krok" pipe. This meth thing has gone on long enough for almost everyone to determine that it's not as bad as the Moral Panicers protrayed, and that having to sign for sudafed is a ginormous nuisance. FDA and DEA and BATF gotta come up with another boogie man to get even more funding. Heck, even "terrorism" is drying up as a magic word to get more funds.