This illicit drug will eat your flesh, turn your skin green, scaly and it's in Michigan

Authorities are warning the public about desomorphine — slang name, krokodil ― a semi-synthetic opioid that has the sedating impact of heroin but can leave a user's skin scaly, green and rotting.

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that last week its drug task force seized more than 42 grams of powdered desomorphine while executing a search warrant on a case involving cocaine sales in East China Township.

Desomorphine is not widely distributed. Last week's seizure was the first time authorities have found desomorphine in St. Clair County.

Fentanyl remains the biggest threat in Michigan and across the nation and is involved in the majority of drug overdose deaths.

Previously, local, state and federal authorities sounded the alarm on xylazine, another flesh-eating drug that is infiltrating street drugs. A non-opioid, xylazine is most often mixed with fentanyl, which is then mixed into whatever passes for heroin. Last year, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard reported that about 85% of the fentanyl his department seizes is mixed with xylazine. Because xylazine is not an opioid, it is impervious to Narcan (generic: naloxone).

Desomorphine is still new. In a prepared statement, the St. Clair Sheriff ' s Office said: "This drug is not commonly made, sold or dealt locally, rather it is shipped in, most often bought off the dark web."

The desomorphine seized in St. Clair County did not appear to have been mixed with other drugs.

Krokodil gained popularity in Russia in the early 2000s, according to the DEA and other reports , as an inexpensive homemade high.

The skin of long-term users of desomorphine often becomes greenish and scaly like that of a crocodile due to tissue damage around injection sites, according to the DEA. Over time, the injuries can cause the skin to rot away.

The St. Clair County Sheriff ' s Office "drug task force members are constantly educating themselves on new drug trends and are committed to educating the community to keep citizens safe. They are doing everything they can do (to) eliminate all sources of desomorphine, just as in all other illegal controlled substances,” Sheriff Mat King said in a prepared statement.

Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: This illicit drug will eat your flesh, turn your skin green, scaly and it's in Michigan