Getting High on Stings

Gary Cruse pointed me to this story from India which is worth passing on. It seems the latest mind altering craze in the country is to experience the effects of scorpion venom coursing through the blood system. The enzymes and toxins produce a feeling of euphoria for up to eight hours.

Although most scorpions are poisonous, their venom is not life-threatening for humans. Only about 20 out of more than 1,000 known species of scorpions are dangerous for human beings.

After the arachnid is set free on a hand or foot of the client - who pays 75 to 125 rupees [about $2.50] for a single 'shot' - the dealer hits the scorpion's back gently with a metal stick to irritate or frighten it, causing it to use its sting.[$ est. by ed.]

So, if you do the math, each dose costs no more than $2.50 and there's a low probability that a person will actually die from it, . . . uh, that's according to the article.

Interestingly, the primary consumers of recreational scorpion venom are said to be young urbanites and truck drivers. How often are those two segments of society in the same demographic group? To my knowledge, never.

Without some serious scientific research data, I'm more than skeptical about the reported danger. Nonetheless, given the propensity for certain members of society to experiment with any mind altering substance, I expect that we'll soon see a scorpion venom fad in the US. If the users follow the example of India, we can also probably expect a young urbanite truckdriver political advocacy group promoting scorpion venom. I guess they would be called the "YUTs."

I'll stick to cold beer, thank you.