World's oldest person Emma Morano dies at 117

The world's oldest person has died in Italy at the age of 117, reports say.

Emma Morano was born on 29 November 1899 in the Piedmont region of Italy. She was officially the last person born in the 1800s still living.

She had attributed her longevity to her genetics and a diet of three eggs a day, two of them raw.

Ms Morano looks at a picture depicting her when she was young

Ms Morano was the oldest of eight siblings, all of whom she has outlived. She died at her home in the northern city of Verbania.

Her life not only spanned three centuries but also survived an abusive marriage, the loss of her only son, two World Wars and more than 90 Italian governments.

Ms Morano had admitted that her longevity was partly down to genetics: her mother reached 91 and several sisters reached their centenary.

But it was also down to a rather unusual diet of three eggs - two raw - each day for more than 90 years.

It was a regime she took up as a young woman, after the doctor diagnosed her with anaemia shortly after World War One.

She had cut down to just two eggs a day, and a few biscuits recently.

Her doctor of 27 years, Carlo Bava, had told AFP news agency that she rarely ate vegetables or fruit.

"When I met her, she ate three eggs per day, two raw in the morning and then an omelette at noon, and chicken at dinner."

Ms Morano also credited her longevity to her decision, in 1938, to kick out her husband - a year after her baby boy died at just six months old.

The marriage had never been healthy, she said. She had been in love with a boy who was killed during World War One, and had no interest in marrying someone else.

But, she told La Stampa newspaper in an interview when she was a spritely 112 that she was left with little choice.

"He told me: 'If you're lucky you marry me, or I'll kill you'. I was 26 years old. I got married."

Eventually, it became too much. Though they separated in 1938, they remained married until he died in 1978. Ms Morano, who worked until she was 75, chose never to marry again.

"I didn't want to be dominated by anyone," she told the New York Times.

She had only taken on a full-time carer a couple of years ago - but had not left her small two-room apartment for 20 years.

According to the US-based Gerontology Research Group (GRG), the world's oldest human being is now Jamaican Violet Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900.

Source: http://www.bbc.com

Krokodil: Flesh-eating 'zombie' drug

Krokodil is a fairly new drug that has appeared in Russia since 2002. It started showing up in Siberia and has spread throughout the country since then. While several drugs are quickly and harshly addictive and physically damaging, krokodil sets a new standard for fast destruction of mind, spirit and body. In 2013 reports of its use began cropping up in the U.S.

Krokodil Manufacture and Harmful Effects

The medical name for the drug is desomorphine. It is made at home by acquiring codeine, sold over the counter for headaches, and cooking it with paint thinner, gasoline, hydrochloric acid, iodine and the red phosphorous from matchbox strike pads. The resulting liquid is injected into a vein. The high from this drug lasts 90 minutes to two hours, and it takes about a half-hour to make the drug. So a krokodil addict does little other than get the ingredients and cook up the drug.

Migration from Heroin to Krokodil

Russia has a severe problem with heroin addiction, but when a heroin addict can no longer afford that drug, he can make up krokodil which has a stronger kick and costs about a tenth the price. But while the life expectancy of a Moscow heroin addict is four to seven years, the life expectancy of a krokodil addict is just a year or two.

At one meeting of drug enforcement officials, two regional governors reported that krokodil accounts for about half of all addictions and drug-related deaths in their regions. And in some other areas, krokodil has nearly replaced opiates as the drug of choice.

It is estimated that somewhere between a few hundred thousand and a million people are injecting this deadly drug. Between 2009 and 2011, the amount of krokodil seized by law enforcement increased 23-fold. In just the first three months of 2011, 65 million doses were seized.

Why is it Called Krokodil?

If You’ve Ever Thought of Using This Drug….

Krokodil gets its name from the fact that the caustic drug causes an addict’s skin to become green, scaly and bumpy like a crocodile’s. If the drug misses a vein and is injected into flesh, that flesh will develop abscesses. It is common for addicts to develop gangrene and require amputations. The flesh on some body parts affected by krokodil injections will rot off completely, leaving bare bone.

Withdrawal is savage, much worse than heroin. Heroin can cause sickness and pain for up to ten days but withdrawal from krokodil can result in a month of unbearable pain. Extremely strong tranquilizers are used during withdrawal so the addict does not pass out from the pain. Doctors dealing with addicts say that this is the strongest level of addiction and the hardest to cure. If a person does manage to get clean from krokodil, they may be left with permanent damage like a speech impediment, vacant gaze and erratic movements.

Source: http://www.narconon.org/drug-information/krokodil.html