Snake Bite Highs?

No not the piercings. Literally snake bites! Its called a venom addiction, but it's not new to chemical dependency counseling or a counseling graduate! This odd addiction is still a serious problem and threat to people and should be taken as serious as a drug addiciton. 

"Two cases of snake venom addicts documented in the January issue of Substance Abuse rekindle the prevalence of a troubling drug trend. Both patients used bites from venomous snakes to get high; their case reports describe feelings of heightened arousal, a sense of well-being, sleepiness, dizziness and lethargy. Sounds like a good time, so long as you can avoid the anaphylaxis, respiratory failure, acute renal failure and kidney failure that snakebites can cause.

Snake Venom as a Drug: Case Studies

In 1990, two additional cases of patients who used snake venom as a drug were featured in the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. Both men were heroin addicts and preferred the snakebites to heroin; however, the psychiatrists behind the report noted that since the patients didn’t exhibit withdrawal symptoms and did not receive daily snakebites, they probably weren’t addicted to snake venom.

The patients profiled in the 1990 study reported feelings of happiness and grandiosity after receiving a snakebite. They were also able to sleep for hours while high. Initially, one of the patients could sleep for 18 to 20 hours after a single bite; after a few months, he could still sleep for 12 to 14 hours while high on snakebites.

Curiously, the authors of the 1990 report thought that snake venom had broader implications as a treatment for drug addiction. “We feel that snake venom may contain substances [that] reduce mental anguish without addiction,” they wrote.

The Benefits of Snake Venom

The curative potential of snake venom as a drug hasn’t gone away since 1990. Anti-venom is derived from snake venom, and its toxins also have applications in other areas of medicine. In 2004, researchers found that snake venom contains an agent that can hinder blood flow to some cancerous tumors. Researchers at the University of Southern California have been studying snake venom to find a cure for breast cancer. And Aggrastat, a Merck aspirin that fights blood clots, contains a compound based on the anti-clotting properties of snake venom.

While snake venom addicts aren’t likely to proliferate in the U.S., we may see new ways to get high on snake bites in the future if researchers have their way."

10 February 2011
Marissa Brassfield

Source:http://calorielab.com/news/2011/02/1...venom-addicts/

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