New drugs craze has a scorpion sting in the tail

[E-llusion]

New drugs craze has a scorpion sting in the tail

Sun Apr/25/2004

SHAIKH AZIZUR RAHMAN IN BOMBAY

SCORPIONS rank along with spiders, snakes and crocodiles as a major phobia, but for some wealthy Indians their venom has become the source of a legal high.

Rich youths from India’s western states of Gujarat and Maharastra are risking a fatal allergic reaction from the arachnids’ sting for the high it gives them.

Men from Gujarat’s nomadic Rabari tribe are offering clients the chance to get their hands or feet stung by scorpions carried in small boxes.

According to police, the dealers run their businesses on the Delhi to Bombay highway, operating from a clandestine base in the Gujarat city of Bharuch.

The enzymes and toxins in scorpion venom are used by the arachnid to paralyse its prey and digest its food.

Although most scorpions are poisonous, their venom is not life-threatening for humans. Only about 20 out of more than 1,000 known species of scorpions are dangerous for human beings.

After the arachnid is set free on a hand or foot of the client - who pays 75 to 125 rupees (90p to £1.50) for a single ‘shot’ - the dealer hits the scorpion’s back gently with a metal stick to irritate or frighten it, causing it to use its sting.

The momentary pain of a sting gives way to an illusionary floating feeling that lasts six to eight hours. Most of the scorpion sting addicts are young urban people and truck drivers on the highways.

Hitchhiking mostly on highway trucks between Ahmedabad and Vasai, a northern suburb of Mumbai, the Rabari sting sellers cater to a wide clientele stretched across Gujarat and Maharastra.

A sting seller known only as Nathu said to the police: "Some are afraid of scorpion stings. I tell them, ‘You won’t die. You should at least try it once, it’s a lifetime experience. It gives a wonderful kick.’ Once a man takes it, he will become an addict and he will have to return to us again."

Sometimes new clients writhe and groan in pain for some minutes immediately after taking the sting, attracting the attention of curious onlookers including police.

Highway restaurant owners said that many young executives from nearby cities and university students were among the clientele of the sting sellers.

One police officer in the city of Bharuch said: "Because of our successful drives against the sellers and addicts of alcohol, opium, cough syrup and heroin in urban areas, young people are flocking on the highways to try the new craze of scorpion stings."

Link

[-=ReD-hAzE=-]

I wonder what kind of scorpion it is... and what exactly is in it's sting that makes it fuckz0rz j00 up.

I'll have to buy me a few and set up shop in the ghetto...

[Belisarius]

I'm not too surprised...I remember reading about a similar craze in India years ago involving snake venom, though unfortunately the story was never corroborated, so it may have been apocryphal...

[Shucklak]

Indians are weird. "Hey man, Im bored, you wanna go get some scorpions to sting the shit out of us? COOL!!!"

[frizzantik]

Originally posted by Shucklak
Indians are weird. "Hey man, Im bored, you wanna go get some scorpions to sting the shit out of us? COOL!!!"

imo it's not any weirder than people eating poisonous plants like datura or belladonna to get high... but neither sound like a particularly good time

[davesoviet]

There was a story about people in Pakistan (India's neighbor) using scorpion stings to get high about a year ago.

If I could find out more specific information and it really did seem like a nice high, I'd totally try it out myself.

Seriously, like injecting yourself with weird drugs from dirty clandestine laboratories, taking designer psychedelics with virtually no human or even rat testing, snorting drugs with incredibly painful burns, drinking industrial solvents and cleaners or taking drugs that make you comatose aren't weird?

Sorry, I don't even see getting intentionally stung by a scorpion any weirder than sitting around with some ridiculous smoking contraption called a bong smoking dried plant leaves that make you hack up your lungs for a few minutes so you can sit around with your friends at a social event on a weekend, get tired, watch lame movies, laugh at all the stupid comments everyone makes just to go home and fall asleep. Nor do I believe it's any weirder than going to a bar and getting drunk to the point you can't even walk or talk right, puke and again go home simply to pass out.

[kitchkinet]

I read a while ago about smoking scorpion tales being a craze in the middle east, one of the users said that when he smoked scorpion tails heroin felt like nothing to him.

[Gaz_hmmmm]

Taking drugs to get fucked up is generally illegal in most parts but getting fucked up on animals is that legal?

[blahblahblah]

^No, soon it will be illegal to be stung by a scorpion, or something...

[Ketamike]

I can't find any info on what species are ideal for this sort of thing. I can use a pet, especially one that I can shock my friends with. Scorpions seem pretty low maintenence.

[john mason]

This is just about the most fucked up thing I have ever seen... imagine paying someone to make their scorpion sting you. Scorpions are scary looking as hell... I don't know man... at least those big black ones, I would never fucking go CLOSE to one of those bitches!!!

[julinka]

Any ideas on what kind of scorpion it is?

(and, for the record, the most common ones - with big claws - won't general sting)

[-=ReD-hAzE=-]

^^^ Unless you slap the hell out of them with a foam stick.

[Jamshyd]

Actually, I don't think it has anything to do with the scorpion venom constituents.

The Scorpion's sting produces one of the worst known pains a human can ever suffer.

So the logic behind the "high" is the same as the logic behind hitting your head repeatedly against the wall to get 'high.' A very stupid idea IMHO, just like Dramamine.

[SilverFeniks]

Geez, that's hardcore ... Most people aren't too excited about getting stung by a scorpion, so I'd imagine it must hurt quite a bit.

But next time I'm fiending, maybe I'll go out in the desert and start lifting rocks

This just cracks me up.

[Shucklak]

I cant believe people are actually asking "well, what kind of scorpion is it? Where can I get one?". I will stick myself with a needle, but fuck if im going to let some nasty scorpion sting my ass with poison.

[Crimson Cloud]

Originally posted by Jamshyd
Actually, I don't think it has anything to do with the scorpion venom constituents.

The Scorpion's sting produces one of the worst known pains a human can ever suffer.

So the logic behind the "high" is the same as the logic behind hitting your head repeatedly against the wall to get 'high.' A very stupid idea IMHO, just like Dramamine.

Actually...

Pathophysiology: Scorpions use their pincers to grasp their prey; then, they arch their tail over their body to drive their stinger into the prey to inject their venom, sometimes more than once. The scorpion can voluntarily regulate how much venom to inject with each sting. The striated muscles in the stinger allow regulation of the amount of venom ejected, which is usually 0.1-0.6 mg. If the entire supply of venom is used, several days must elapse before the supply is replenished. Furthermore, scorpions with large venom sacs, such as the Parabuthus species, can even squirt their venom.

The venom glands are located on the tail lateral to the tip of the stinger and are composed of 2 types of tall columnar cells. One type produces the toxins, while the other produces mucus. The potency of the venom varies with the species, with some producing only a mild flu and others producing death within an hour. Generally, the venom is distributed rapidly into the tissue if it is deposited into a venous structure. Venom deposited via the intravenous route can cause symptoms only 4-7 minutes after the injection, with a peak tissue concentration in 30 minutes and an overall toxin elimination half-life of 4.2-13.4 hours through the urine. The more rapidly the venom enters the bloodstream, the higher the venom concentration in the blood and the more rapid the onset of systemic symptoms.

Scorpion venom is a water-soluble, antigenic, heterogenous mixture, as demonstrated on electrophoresis studies. This heterogeneity accounts for the variable patient reactions to the scorpion sting. However, the closer the phylogenetic relationship between the scorpions, the more similar the immunological properties. Furthermore, the various constituents of the venom may act directly or indirectly and individually or synergistically to manifest their effects. In addition, differences in the amino acid sequence of each toxin account for their differences in the function and immunology. Thus, any modifications of the amino acid sequence result in modification of the function and immunology of the toxin.

The venom is composed of varying concentrations of neurotoxin, cardiotoxin, nephrotoxin, hemolytic toxin, phosphodiesterases, phospholipases, hyaluronidases, glycosaminoglycans, histamine, serotonin, tryptophan, and cytokine releasers.* The most potent toxin is the neurotoxin, of which 2 classes exist. Both of these classes are heat-stable, have low molecular weight, and are responsible for causing cell impairment in nerves, muscles, and the heart by altering ion channel permeability.

The long-chain polypeptide neurotoxin causes stabilization of voltage-dependent sodium channels in the open position, leading to continuous, prolonged, repetitive firing of the somatic, sympathetic, and parasympathetic neurons. This repetitive firing results in autonomic and neuromuscular overexcitation symptoms, and it prevents normal nerve impulse transmissions. Furthermore, it results in release of excessive neurotransmitters such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, glutamate, and aspartate.* Meanwhile, the short polypeptide neurotoxin blocks the potassium channels.

The binding of these neurotoxins to the host is reversible, but different neurotoxins have different affinities. The stability of the neurotoxin is due to the 4 disulfide bridges that fold the neurotoxin into a very compact 3-dimensional structure, thus making it resistant to pH and temperature changes. However, reagents that can break the disulfide bridges can inactivate this toxin by causing it to unfold. Also, the antigenicity of this toxin is dependent on the length and number of exposed regions that are sticking out of the 3-dimensional structure.

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2081.htm

But it's still one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

I love scorpions. I've had many as pets, Emperor scorpions... the big black ones that john mason thinks are so scary. I've been stung too, and it hurts like hell. It didn't get me high in any way but Emperors venom is pretty benign compared to other species. I don't give a fuck if it did get me high though, I would never do it purposely because it hurts like hell and scorpions need their venom to defend themselves and disable their prey. And it probably places alot of stress on the scorpion because they only sting if they feel threatened, and too much stress can easily kill a scorpion. Leave the poor things alone.

[FallenThistle]

yah I once heard being stung by a scorpion was akin to having a cigarrette put out on your arm - apparently the guy had had both done to him.

[wheelchair]

i've heard scorpion withdrawl is a bitch

[Shucklak]

cant you just picture some guy fiending for scorpion? "hey man, you got any scorpion? cmon man im goin nuts, just one sting please! look, ill suck your dick if you just let a scorpion climb on me and sting the hell out of me with its venom. "

[booyakasha]

lol

[Jamshyd]

^^^ LMAO!

Andthanks a LOT for the info, Crimson Cloud. It was very enlightening .

[vegan]

Once a man takes it, he will become an addict and he will have to return to us again."

yeah right!

[Dj_TranceMadness]

Originally posted by fruitfly
^ I can assure you that using scorpion tails to get high is not a "craze" in the Middle East!

Copy that.

Anyways I'd give it a shot after a good deal of research

[BlueMind]

Sounds similar to a story I read about youth in Mexico breeding and then smoking dried, crushed up, red ants.