Snake Venom, now a Recreational Drug!
Poisonous secretions from snakes are now used in making an elevating but dangerously addictive substance, used by growing numbers of India's youth.
Five cobras, two double-headed snakes, a python and a rat snake: sounds like the latest shipment to a zoo, doesn’t it? Or perhaps, what staff persons captured while combing a park? In actuality, this collection of scaly creatures was recovered by the police from the home of popular You Tuber and reality show winner Elvish Yadav. He’d been using the slithering reptiles for a bizarre purpose: extracting their venom to provide party-goers with a source of recreation! Yes, we are not making this up.
Talk about pleasurable pain, it seems that now poisonous serpent secretions actually make for a popular indulgence among party-goers. That is the subject of a jarring report by the Wion news channel. The cops had reportedly nabbed 20 millilitres of snake venom along with their secretors from Yadav. This is the latest instance of exposure in the widespread multi-million dollar industry. In late 2022, West Bengal state’s Border Security Force (BSF) seized a jar with over 2 kilos of the substance. Any guesses as to its monitory value? Rs. 17 Crore or 117 Million USD!
According to sources in India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the King Cobra is the most favoured and largest producer of the illicit and addictive substance because of its easy availability through snake charmers. The liquid is converted into a powdery substance which is then combined with alcohol and bottled for consumption. On the basis of informed estimates, a mere half a litre of snake venom can rake in millions of dollars in the global market.
Its power, intoxicating effect and addictiveness is similar to that of opioids. Small amounts of the latter can help to kill pain and enhance general health, but too much of the same can be devastating to the human condition. Health agencies claim that India is currently home to over 100 million substance-abusers. And the figures are getting worse. There has been a 70 per cent rise in the last 8 years. That’s not all: global experts estimate that 13 per cent of these drug addicts are below the age of 20. It seems one is better off dealing with a plain and simple case of snake-bite.
