The really awful thing is that this picture is not even the most extreme Krokodil image that's out there.

Completely messed up. Rock on, ILBTD.

I get what you're saying. Objectively, yeah, this is not a smart thing to do to yourself. I think folks are reacting to the rather black and white picture that this paints. Krokodil addicts are desperate, despondent people who have lost all hope. Most addicts become so because they're in so much emotional pain that…

Did you see that YouTube video where the doctor/nurse uses a garrote to sever two leg bones at the shin? Completely terrifying and unreal.

It makes me really sad because there is a relatively new drug, suboxone, that has been very effective at treating opiate addiction. It keeps the addict from experience 99% of the withdrawal symptoms. An addict can be detoxed pain free in about 1-2 weeks with this medication. If an addict is in such desperate state…

I don't think we'll end up with much of a market for it here simply because you can't get codeine over the counter, thus removing the vital "cheap and easy" part of the equation. Not having easy access to the active ingredient will probably keep the price point higher so users will just stick with heroin. I hope.

I'm in the same boat. It's just incomprehensible. How very broken these poor people must be, I just want to gather them all up and Earth Mama them up good.

I love this video so very much.

I'm lucky, I was raised in a third generation matriarchy so I don't have as much of the pain that many women do because I never had anyone tell me I couldn't do/be ___ because of my gender. Sometimes I feel a bit like the cuckoo in the feminist nest, a pretender because I have lived a life so free of sexism.

I do try to understand where folks are coming from. I am fascinated by the human condition and figure there's no way I can understand even a fraction if I don't seek other viewpoints. And yes, the Gorga family is cray cray. :)

I see what you're saying regarding judging someone else's relationship, as no one really understands how a marriage operates other than the two people involved. I can't even imagine what people might wonder about my marriage! But yes, you're right, they've opened themselves up for judgement by writing the book and…

Gotchya, that makes sense. Thanks for writing back. All on its own, I can totally see why that seems extreme. There was a much longer post with excerpts from her book earlier this week. In that post it was clear that both the wife and husband have some very old fashioned ideas about gender roles, consent, and sex…

I've been reading through your comments and I'm curious about something. What is the point you're trying to make? You're asking questions about why commenters have their points of view on different scenarios of Melissa and Joe Gorga and hypothetical situations, but I'm not quite sure what it is that you're trying to…

I see what you're saying, we do hear more discourse on how women are represented in comics and other media. I think that has a great deal to do with the fundamentally different reasons for presenting women with such unrealistic proportions than for men with the same lack of realism.

You are the first commenter whose handle I started to recognize. That wee star in the corner of your icon was well deserved, back in the day. Thanks for smacking the uninformed folks on the nose when need be.

Shhhh, I'm trying to get folks to read Saga.

Woot!

Psst. Northern California is way better ...

Every time I try and live somewhere other than the Bay Area I give up within three months. It's just the best.

Come to SF, highest minimum wage in the country and healthcare for all residents. We're crazy, but we try.