Alarm at rise of cheap new crystal meth variant
With a €2 price per hit, the drug sisa has grown massively in popularity but is highly addictive and is known to have turned users murderous.
Vice.com, an investigative website, reports that drug users are turning to sisa in times of austerity.
“As drugs go, it is the worst. It burns your insides, it makes you aggressive and ensures that you go totally mad,” Maria, a former heroin addict, told the website. “But it is cheap and it is easy to get, and it is what everyone is doing.”
Described by addicts as a variation of crystal meth, it is thought to be mixed with battery acid and engine oil and makes users hypnotic and dangerous.
“It is a killer but it also makes you want to kill,” Konstantinos, a drug addict, told Vice.com. “You can kill without understanding that you have done it... And it is spreading faster than death. A lot of users have died.”
Charalampos Poulopoulos, head of Kethea, Greece’s anti-drug centre in Athens, said sisa is an “austerity drug” which attracts those who cannot afford cocaine or heroin.
“The crisis has given dealers the possibility to promote a new, cheap drug, a cocaine for the poor,” said Mr Poulopoulos.
“Sisa can be sniffed or injected and it can be made in home laboratories — you don’t need any specialised knowledge. It is extremely dangerous.”
