New drugs craze has a scorpion sting in the tail

Scotland On Sunday ^ | 25 Apr 2004 | SHAIKH AZIZUR RAHMAN IN BOMBAY

[aculeus]

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."

[aculeus]

And the correct name for the scorpion's stinger is ...

[DB]

Boy those Indian's really know how to party...

NOT!

[dasboot]

Nice way to get AIDS, too.

Scorpion exchange program?

[Vince Ferrer]

Boy those Indian's really know how to party...

Sounds a little bit hipper than frog licking, though.

[Judith Anne]

I've been stung by a very small scorpion. No way this could be considered recreation.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

LOL!! Sounds like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer. . . it feels so good when it stops.

[AlbertWang]

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

Wow, sounds like something I would want to try.

[Savage Beast]

"Most of the scorpion sting addicts are young urban people and truck drivers on the highways"

I thought the drivers in India drove like they were drunk. I couldn't imagine that they were high on scorpion venom. Many things are beyond the imagination.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Q: "And the correct name for the scorpion's stinger is..."

A: Telson

http://www.museums.org.za/bio/scorpions/morphology.htm

Do I win a free introductory sting?

[Hardastarboard]

Parikh?

[WorkingClassFilth]

Nah. I win:

"The metosoma (tail) has 5 segments plus the distal (end) telson (stinger). The telson consists of a round vesicle, which contains the venom gland and a pair of muscles, and the aculeus (sting)."

(I think Aculeus is looking for something else though...)

[Thinkin' Gal]

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.

Hmmm, five months worth of this 24/7 and they'll likely be seeking death, and won't be able to find it.

[battlegearboat]

I, Mr. Battlegearboat, charge a considerable fee for a dose of my "shovel-stinger" as it is not addictive and generally leaves the customer in a altered state of mind for a long time, sometimes permanently.

(A NOTED EXCEPTION: Islamic fanatics can waive the fee provided towels are removed from their heads prior to dosing.)

[aculeus]

Sorry, guys. A clear picture is worth a thousand obscure words.

Dictionary: aculeus, Latin, diminutive of acus needle.

[gitmo]

Great. Within a few weeks we'll have guys hanging around school yards with scorpions, copperheads and black widows in their trenchcoats.

[LibKill]

Anyone that desparate to get high is in bad shape.

[William Terrell]

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

Why doesn't the man just get his own scorpion?

[DUMBGRUNT]

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.

Are the truck drivers screened for this on the random drug test?
Could this be why some Indian drivers appear to be lost in the middle of the road? (Here in Chicagoland!)

[XHogPilot]

I've been stung by a very small scorpion. No way this could be considered recreation.

IIRC, some of the scorpions common to the US are quite venemous to humans. Perhaps these particular Indian scorpions are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Arizona Bark Scorpion, Centrurus exilicauda, SW US (AZ,CA,NM, perhaps UT), potentially lethal sting

Striped Bark Scorpion, Centruroides vittatus, very common in TX, range from IL to NM and most points in between, non-lethal, excrutiating pain ("like a nail being driven into the site of the sting")

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for that information. I walked in the barn door, and didn't see a thing. It stung me on my back, and I was actually knocked down by it--driven to my knees. I told the doctor it was like somebody shot me. I've had other stings, hornets, wasps, bees, nothing like this ever. Doc said it was a barn scorpion, he sees them here in S. MO. It ached for a month.