Lack of will power and absence of self-control can push a person to the path of destruction. With no grip on his/her senses, the person won’t be able to stop at right point, hence regretting it lifelong. This is how ‘addiction’ begins.
While there have been reports of people from across the globe having various sorts of addictions, the latest one to have been spreading in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Pakistan is rather dangerous and disgusting at the same time.
Gaining popularity in KP is scorpion smoking which has been termed as the ‘worst form of addiction’ by one of the inhalers himself.
As gross as it may sound, but it is the latest habit to have been adapted by addicts. This form of smoking that involves killing of number of scorpions is highly injurious and directly affects the brain.
Sohbat Khan, 74, explaining the process of scorpion smoking said, “A dead scorpion is first dried in the sunlight or burnt on coal. The coal is kept on a traditional stove and the scorpion is allowed to cook until it burns to death.”
“I would inhale the smoke coming out of the fire,” Sohbat further recalled.
According to him, the real high lies in its tail as the poisonous venom present in it makes it dangerously addictive.
“It’s high last for around 10 hours and everything appears like it is dancing, the roads, the vehicles and all other stuff in front of me,” he added.
Throwing light on the harmful side affects of this habit, Dr Azaz Jamal of Khyber Teaching Hospital said, “Scorpion smoking causes short and long term memory loss. It also causes hallucination, the state where person have perception of something which is not present.”
Calling it much more harmful than other drugs, he said that not much research is available of this addiction as it’s users are not easily identified.
Azeemullah, a former service man at KP’s narcotics control department, said, “We need laws in place to stop the killing of scorpions.
They are used in medicines for diseases like cancer and AIDS. Unless their use is regulated, scorpion addiction poses a threat to the availability of scorpions for medical purposes.”