Smoking Scorpions

Rancid Culture

Smoking dead scorpions is the latest addiction in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa “I started scorpion smoking in the mid-'60s,” recalls 74-year-old Sohbat Khan. It was during General Ayub Khan’s era, and Khan was only 20 years old. He would frequent the famous Jalil Kabab house in Peshawar, which is how he met the vendor who sold scorpions worth Re 1 or Rs 2 right next to the eatery. The men got their supply from the Matani area, which is rich in scorpions because of its insufferably hot weather. Khan says he has quit smoking scorpions. His eyes are sunken from years of addiction, and his pale face and hollow cheeks betray a dependence on opium. “Nasha pa nasha khatmege,” he says, smiling – some drugs are beaten by other drugs. His addiction to opium doesn’t bother him as much. Khan says opium’s affects are far safer than scorpion smoking. He knows his body is too old to bear the high, but there are days he still feels the pull. [Full] Wait until San Francisco reads about this.