Elvish Yadav case: What is snake venom and its lethal side as recreational drug?

The Noida Police on Sunday arrested YouTuber and Big Boss OTT season 2 winner Elvish Yadav in connection with the alleged use of snake venom as a recreational drug at a party in Delhi-NCR. He is being presented before the district and sessions court Surajpur in Greater Noida today, reported news agency ANI.

Yadav's arrest comes over four months after an FIR was lodged against him and five others in November last year following a complaint filed by an NGO run by Maneka Gandhi ‘People For Animals’. According to the complaint, the six accused allegedly provided snake venom for recreational use at a rave party in Noida's Sector 51. The police recovered a total of nine snakes including cobras, and a plastic bottle containing 20 milliliters of snake venom from the accused named in the FIR. While the five accused - Rahul, Titunath, Jayakaran, Narayan, and Ravinath - were arrested last year, they are currently out on bail. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old YouTuber, who assured to cooperate in the probe, was not present at the party, the Noida police had claimed.

What is snake venom?

Snake venom is a highly toxic saliva of snakes that contains zootoxins which help facilitate the immobilisation and digestion of prey for the reptiles. While some species of snakes inject snake venom during a bite, others can also spit it out. Using snake venom as a ‘recreational drug’ is an uncommon and highly dangerous practice in India, carrying potentially life-threatening risks.

According to a 2018 study ‘Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature’, the reptiles were made to bite the person's feet or tongue during their ‘recreational’ use in India. The study was published in the Indian Journal of Pharmacology and Physiology which discussed a case of a teenager's snake venom addiction and his involvement in organising rave parties for recreational drug purposes.

How dangerous is snake venom?

The 2018 study showed that after the teenager was bitten by the snake on his tongue, he started feeling drowsy for a few hours, followed by an extended period of elevated happiness, an enhanced sense of well-being, and reduced desire for sleep that lasted for a week.

Once the snake venom is injected into the body, it releases active metabolites such as serotonin, bradykinin, peptides, prostaglandins, and other slow-reacting substances, each with various psychotropic effects, including hypnotic and sedative properties. The common symptoms following a snake bite include an increased sense of well-being, lethargy, a heightened sense of grandiosity, blurred vision, dizziness, and intense and persistent euphoria. However, the psychotropic effects following a snakebite vary from one individual to another.

According to the journal, individuals attempting this form of abuse are primarily adolescents, although adults occasionally engage in it as well. Snakebites are typically obtained from nomadic tribespeople, slum snake charmers, and involve snake species such as the common krait (Bungarus caeruleus), cobra (Naja naja), green snake (Opheodrys vernalis), rat snake, and green vine, it said.