Smoking scorpions is the new high now?

They say when life gives you lemons, dance or make lemonade. Whatever takes the edge off. The same applies to the drug world in some aspects. You ban a few substances here and there, no problem. People find a way to smuggle them in. If the authorities somehow successfully put an end to that as well, people just find new stuff to get high on.

And in some cases that ‘new stuff’ is something you wouldn’t normally picture in this regard.  Well something along those lines is happening right here in Pakistan.

People apparently are smoking Scorpions in this part of the world, now

Apparently, it’s a high that can last up to ten hours according to some. That’s almost equivalent to a full blown acid trip. According to one user, the first six hours can be really painful since the body is adjusting itself to the substance.

There are varied accounts of the supposed effects of smoking a scorpion. Some note that it has hallucinogenic effects coupled with a sense of euphoria. Kinda like how Psilocybin works on your body. While many equate it with a withdrawn and dissociative feeling you normally get when smoking hash but an amplified version of it. A really bad downer, basically.

Smoking scorpions is known to be quiet dangerous with there have being numerous cases of people dying as a result of smoking it

That really comes as a no-brainer since essentially its the venom in the scorpion’s sting that causes the high. Additionally users are known to exhibit psychotic episodes along with memory loss. It is rather unclear though whether psychosis and paranoia are caused by the drug alone since most users tend to be opiate addicts as well.

So how does one smoke a venomous arachnid?

Well, the scorpion is first killed or a dead one is found. It’s then dried in the sun after which its tail is crushed into a powder of sorts.  Some people just heat a living scorpions on coal or a makeshift stove. The powder is then rolled into either a paper or a cigarette and ready to be smoked. In most cases the powder is mixed with tobacco and hash. In some instances it is even mixed up with opium or crack. Also it can be smoked in a crack pipe and ‘Chillum‘ (local one hitter pipe like apparatus).

The practice is mainly prevalent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan regions. However it’s not just restricted to these areas. It has also made its way into much bigger metropolitan areas. It is also smoked in some parts of India, as well. The scorpion or the powder is available for Rs. 200 to 300 a pop.

What is the Government doing about all the smoking of Scorpions?

Over the years with government enforcing strict drug laws on most known synthetic substances, use of scorpions for drug consumption has grown. The police, which is familiar with this trend, complain that there are no laws against this. It’s a tricky predicament. It is, in fact, the nonavailability of other drugs that make this popular. Like in prisons where addicts couldn’t get a hold of the drug of their choice, they settled with lizards and scorpions they found. Another example is in Sudan where plant based intoxicants are banned. The people there, however, have found a new substitute for it which is made from the liver of a Giraffe.

But we’ll get to it some other time. So much weird stuff out there, so little time.

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