Men get high from cobra bite on tongue

At least two drug addicts during their course of medical treatment in Chandigarh confessed to psychiatrists that they would get the venomous bite of Cobra snake on their tongue to get a high that lasted for nearly a month.

The two drug addicts said they opted for snake venom as a substitute for other opioids consumed by addicts. Both the addicts in their late thirties are from neighbouring Rajasthan and were treated at the drug de-addiction centre at regions premier Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

They told doctors that the effect of the venom by way of a cobra bite on the tongue would leave them in a state of extreme euphoria and offer an inflated state of superiority over others that would last for 3 to 4 weeks. The case study and review of the two addicts high on snake venom was undertaken by Dr Assrm Mehra, Dr Debashish Dass and Dr Sangeep Grover of the PGI psychiatry department and finds prominence in a leading Indian Medical Journal.

The addicted patients informed that they first got the cobra snake bite on their tongue with the help of a snake charmer. The duo had been addicted to drugs for the last about 15-years. They began with alcohol, cigarettes and then got addicted to opioids. They later tried the cobra snake bite on being told that it was a more powerful and lasting intoxicant.

The addicts said the snake bite at first left them with blurred vision with their body jerking and then becoming unresponsive for about an hour. On regaining consciousness they felt an extreme state of well-being, ecstasy and a high that was more powerful than any of the opioids they had consumed.

Doctors say an exhaustive study was needed to understand how these patients perhaps developed antibodies to survive the bite of the venomous cobra. Such form of high-risk behaviour is rare and often for recreational purposes.