Posted on 04/29/2016 4:25:14 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
“I started scorpion smoking in the mid-'60s,” recalls 74-year-old Sohbat Khan.
It was during General Ayub Khan’s era, and Khan was only 20 years old. He would frequent the famous Jalil Kabab house in Peshawar, which is how he met the vendor who sold scorpions worth Re 1 or Rs 2 right next to the eatery. The men got their supply from the Matani area, which is rich in scorpions because of its insufferably hot weather.
Khan says he has quit smoking scorpions. His eyes are sunken from years of addiction, and his pale face and hollow cheeks betray a dependence on opium. “Nasha pa nasha khatmege,” he says, smiling – some drugs are beaten by other drugs.
His addiction to opium doesn’t bother him as much. Khan says opium’s affects are far safer than scorpion smoking. He knows his body is too old to bear the high, but there are days he still feels the pull.
“Chars aw powder kho asi gup dai,” Khan said in way of explanation – “Hashish and heroin’s so-called relief is nothing in front of scorpion.”
Inhaling the fire
During his years of addiction, Khan remembers madly roaming around his house and village, hunting for scorpions. Often, when the need was too overwhelming and there was no scorpion in sight, he would make his way to Peshawar. “It’s a worst form of addiction,” he says in Pashto.
The arrangements take up a lot of time and energy, explains Sohbat. A dead scorpion is first dried in the sunlight or burnt on coal. The coal is kept on a traditional stove, and the scorpion is allowed to cook until it burns to death.
“I would inhale the smoke coming out of the fire,” Sohbat says, although it is the tail that addicts really want – its poisonous venom makes for dangerous addiction.
In India, where the use is common in a few states, the method is quicker, and more expensive. People holding scorpions in their hands park themselves in specific spots, and addicts come to have a ‘sting of pleasure’. They pay between 100 to 150 Indian rupees for each sting.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some people mix the burnt tail with hashish and tobacco to smoke it in a cigarette. Sohbat’s method varies – he would use a ‘nacha’, which is a small pipe used to inhale drugs.
The high lasts for almost 10 hours. The first six hours are more painful, as the body adjusts to the high. Slowly, Sohbat says, the feeling eases into enjoyment. “Everything appears like it is dancing,” he calls. “The roads, the vehicles, everything in front of me.”
More harmful than other drugs
Experts say that scorpion venom is dangerous for the human brain when inhaled. Among the 1,750 described species of scorpions, 25 are fatal to humans. The rest do not kill when they sting, but according to Dr Azaz Jamal, their venom is far more harmful than other drugs.
“Scorpion smoking causes short and long term memory loss,” says Jamal, who is a medical officer at the Khyber Teaching Hospital. The person addicted to scorpion smoking also develops sleeping and appetite disorders, and starts living in a constant state of delusion.
“Smoking causes hallucination, the state where person have perception of something which is not present,” he explains.
He goes on to explain that there is little research available on scorpion addiction because its users cannot be identified as easily. For one, scorpion smoking is practiced in secret places, and secondly, no data is yet available on an official level. The United Nation Drug’s office has not investigated the addiction in its reports.
Killing scorpions
The menace of scorpion smoking is gaining popularity in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Although there are no exact statistics that reveal the users’ percentage, research has been carried out to find the prevalence of scorpion smoking addiction.
Azeemullah, a former service man at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s narcotics control department, who has travelled around the province for many years, has found addicts in the districts of Bannu, Kohat, Karak, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Charsadda and Batkhela. He cannot cite numbers, but his results show that the drug is not a rare indulgence.
Azeem comments on the lack of laws for scorpion smoking in Pakistan. “We need laws in place to stop the killing of scorpions,” he says. Azeem adds that scorpions are used in medicines for diseases like cancer and AIDS. Unless their use is regulated, scorpion addiction poses a threat to the availability of scorpions for medical purposes.
This article first appeared on Dawn.com.
Personally, I prefer smoking rattle snakes.
If I could only figure out which end to light.
Just when you think you’ve read or heard everything.
not to worry.... global warming is having a bad effect on scorpion habitat and the result will be fewer scorpions
Perhaps they might try smoking dried banana peel scrapings like the hippies in the 60’s were rumored to have done... A bug in their ear, perhaps? Too bad the scorpion won’t fit in there.
I suppose any poison that affects the brain and causes mind-altering effects can be perceived as pleasurable to some people.
There is a reason we call such effects “intoxication.” The word literally means “a state of being poisoned.” Alcohol would be one of the safer intoxicants, since the body has specific mechanisms for detoxifying and purging the body of the chemical.
I would suggest inhaling from the tail end keeping the head as far away from your face as possile.
Black Lotus, Stygian, the BEST!!!I would sell Haga to a slayer such as you? 
I’m sitting on a freaking gold mine!
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
Thanks for posting the whole article.
Hey, does that explain the way Keith Richards looks? /s
I find the inclusion of “dead” in the title interesting. I assume there’s no addiction problem with smoking live ones.
Another good name for a rock band “Smoking Dead Scorpions”
Pakistan is the most f***ed up nation in the world.
Pakistan is a third world s***hole and the very worst of them all. 70% of all Pakis are inbred. A crawling, filthy blight upon the Earth.
Britain is heavily infested with Pakis.
Sounds about right for these interbred savages. Nothing they do surprises me.
Smoking Dead Scorpions sounds like the name of a thrash band.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.