wipe memory and even kill
Scopolamine often blown into faces of victims or added to drinks
Within minutes, victims are like 'zombies' - coherent, but with no free will
Some victims report emptying bank accounts to robbers or helping them pillage own house
Drug is made from borrachero tree, which is common in Colombia
By BETH STEBNER
PUBLISHED: 17:44 EST, 12 May 2012 | UPDATED: 08:43 EST, 13 May 2012
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A hazardous drug that eliminates free will and can wipe the memory of its victims is currently being dealt on the streets of Colombia.
The drug is called scopolamine, but is colloquially known as ‘The Devil’s Breath,' and is derived from a particular type of tree common to South America.
Stories surrounding the drug are the stuff of urban legends, with some telling horror stories of how people were raped, forced to empty their bank accounts, and even coerced into giving up an organ.
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Danger: 'The Devil's Breath' is such a powerful drug that it can remove the capacity for free will
Deadly drug: Scopolamine is made from the Borrachero tree, which blooms with deceptively beautiful white and yellow flowers
VICE’s Ryan Duffy travelled to the country to find out more about the powerful drug. In two segments, he revealed the shocking culture of another Colombian drug world, interviewing those who deal the drug and those who have fallen victim to it.
Demencia Black, a drug dealer in the capital of Bogota, said the drug is frightening for the simplicity in which it can be administered.
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He told Vice that Scopolamine can be blown in the face of a passer-by on the street, and within minutes, that person is under the drug’s effect - scopolamine is odourless and tasteless.
‘You can guide them wherever you want,’ he explained. ‘It’s like they’re a child.’
Black said that one gram of Scopolamine is similar to a gram of cocaine, but later called it ‘worse than anthrax.’
In high doses, it is lethal.
It only takes a moment: One drug dealer in Bogota explained how victims are drugged within minutes of exposure
Victims: One Colombian woman said that under the influence of scopolamine, she led a man to her house and helped him ransack it
The drug, he said, turns people into complete zombies and blocks memories from forming. So even after the drug wears off, victims have no recollection as to what happened.
One victim told Vice that a man approached her on the street asking her for directions. Since it was close by, she helped take the man to his destination, and they drank juice together.
'You can guide them wherever you want. It’s like they’re a child.'
She took the man to her house and helped him gather all of her belongings, including her boyfriend’s cameras and savings.
‘It is painful to have lost money,’ the woman said,’ but I was actually quite lucky.’
According to the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, the drug - also known as hyoscine - causes the same level of memory loss as diazepam.
In ancient times, the drug was given to the mistresses of dead Colombian leaders – they were told to enter their master’s grave, where they were buried alive.
Devil's Breath: The drug is odourless and tasteless and can simply be blown in the face of someone on the street; their free will vanishes after being exposed to it
Dangerous: Vice's Ryan Duffy traveled to the capital of Bogota to find out more about the drug
In modern times, the CIA used the drug as part of Cold War interrogations, with the hope of using it like a truth serum.
However, because of the drug’s chemical makeup, it also induces powerful hallucinations.
The tree common around Colombia, and is called the ‘borrachero’ tree – loosely translated as the 'get-you-drunk' tree.
It is said that Colombian mothers warn their children not to fall asleep under the tree, though the leafy green canopies and large yellow and white flowers seem appealing.
Experts are baffled as to why Colombia is riddled with scopolamine-related crimes, but wager much of it has to do with the country’s torn drug-culture past, and on-going civil war.
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