A lethal drug that quickly erodes flesh has been discovered in the United States.

The drug, named Krokodil-also known as desomorphine- for having the skin erupt in disfiguring, painful sores that resemble the scaly nature of crocodile scales, has been recently reported to have shown up in Arizona. The Drug Enforcement Administration has been monitoring it since 2011, however they claim that this is the first threatening case to ever be reported.

Krokodil can trace its origins all the way from Russia; it is a deadly concoction of codeine and various kinds of hydrocarbons mixed with it, such as oil, paint thinners, gasoline, and alcohol. Users believe that filtering and boiling the drug before injecting it into the bloodstream clears away all the impurities that are responsible for the ghastly and harmful side-effects, but experts say that this process is wrong, not to mention misleading. Two cases have already been reported in Arizona Banner Poison Control Center , causing alarm to doctors and experts alike.

"As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported... We're extremely frightened," co-medical director at the center, Dr. Frank LoVecchio told the media.

Upon injection, the flesh-eating drug begins to take effect: blood vessels and tissue erode and subsequently die, causing the flesh to rot from the inside-out. The monstrous, painful-looking sores then appear, which lends it the name Krokodil. Thousands of people in Russia have been injected this drug, according to a study that was done in 2010.

The gruesome side-effects of the drugs shorten the life expectancy of users, narrowing it down to a shocking three years.

Authorities say that the lure to this potentially lethal drug is its cost: It is reported to be 20 times cheaper that heroin but produces a similar effect.