Krokodil Hoax?

All the media stories, all the Department teletypes being issued and computer alerts being generated - and no one can point to a single proven instance of this drug turning up?

• The hunt for krokodil continues as tests conducted in recent days on a suspected sample of the so-called flesh-eating drug came back negative, federal officials said.
  
  An announcement two weeks ago by a Joliet doctor who said he treated three patients who showed the telltale rotting flesh associated with the toxic, home-brewed opiate — made from mixing codeine tablets with solvents like gasoline or acids — has sparked media coverage. A week later, a Crystal Lake hospital reported treating a krokodil user, and reports have cropped up across the country.
  
  But whether the U.S. faces a horrifying new drug or merely an urban legend is hard to say, and confirmation of cases may not come for months or years, if ever.
  
  Jack Riley, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office, said doctors and victims in the Chicago area have been interviewed by law enforcement.
  
  In a sweep modeled after the agency's successful search for the source of deadly fentanyl-tainted heroin some six years ago, 200 DEA agents across five states have made finding krokodil a top priority, Riley said.
  
  "We have run quite a few buys in the city and suburbs," Riley said "What the lab tells us is it's just heroin."

If the feds are throwing money around, you can bet it's more than "quite a few buys" that they're doing. And before someone accuses us of helping spread the panic, our interest was purely selfish in that more dead junkies means less crime across the board for police to handle, and we hope to share that bit of good news with as many coppers as possible. Besides, we're insignificant.