Two men checked themselves in for rehabilitation in India after using cobra venom to get high. The two unnamed men, from Rajasthan, had been getting cobras to bite their tongues.
A medical research study conducted on the two indicated the usual narcotic substances were not giving them a buzz anymore, The Times of India reported.
The case caught the attention of national medical institutions and specialists at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and the Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh state are examining the pair to see whether they have developed antibodies or ingested substances to avoid being poisoned by snake venom.
This case was also published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine in a study called “Snake Venom use as a substitute for opioids: A case report and review of the literature,” written by doctors Debashish Basu, Sandeep Grover and Aseem Mehra.
The two reportedly paid snake charmers to get the snakes to “kiss” them on their tongues. Dr Grover said the bite resulted in jerky body movements, blurred vision and unresponsiveness for 60 minutes, The Telegraph reported. The duo was said to be in a state of extreme euphoria and had an inflated state of superiority over others that would last for up to a month.
Dr Grover added the two men, in their late 30s, had been opioid-dependent for more than 15 years, and only four reports involving the recreational use of snake venom have been published in India so far.
In February 2012, police in New Delhi seized 500 milliliters of venom extracted from cobras and other reptiles including some highly endangered species. The venom was reportedly used in drugs, commonly called K-72 and K-76, for party-goers in discos to get high.