The Devil's Breath

Scopolamine:  The Worlds Scariest Drug?

Blossoms from the Borrachero Tree

     Scopolamine is also called Devil's Breath. This alkaloid drug is obtained from plants of the nightshade family.  This drug has a reputation for being a "zombie drug" due to its effect on people. When under the influence of this drug, the person appears rational and sober, but they are in a robotic like state, void of all free will.  It is a common street drug in Columbia and this is where it got its name, "Devil's Breath" from.   In Columbia, Scopolamine is also used for its hallucinogenic effects. This drug is taken in dangerously high doses to produce this effect. The hallucinogenic effects are reported to feel very real and where some seem to seek this type of effect, most others find it very unwanted and do not want to repeat the experience.  

     Scopolamine comes from a Columbian tree called the Borrachero tree.  It is so powerful that mothers warn their children not to play near the trees because even the pollen can cause strange dreams.  The drug is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.  Criminals give this drug to their victims and they become so docile, they actually help the thieves rob their own homes and empty their bank accounts.  Women in Columbia use this drug to rob men.  There are so many cases in Columbia they rarely make the news unless bizarre.  In one such case, three women in Bogota lured men to lick their breasts which were smeared with the drug.  The women would then drain their bank accounts.  In another case a young woman, Andrea Fernandez was on the bus with her newborn son in Bogota.  Police found her three days later walking the median of a highway, topless and badly beaten without her baby.  Criminals will blow the powder in the face of their victims and in minutes free will is gone.

     Pure cheap scopolamine is brought across the border from Ecuador, where the borrachero tree is harvested for medicinal purpose.   When used by criminals, the drug will leave the victim with amnesia and the inability to exercise free will.  Memories are made through chemicals in the brain called acetylcholine and when a person takes Scopolamine it fights with acetylcholine and ends up blocking the receptors enabling a person’s ability to create a memory.  Since it completely blocks the formation of memories it is impossible for victims to ever identify who drugged them.  The memory was never recorded.  This drug is structurally similar to the nerve substance acetylcholine, scopolamine acts by interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses by acetylcholine in the parasympathetic nervous system and produces symptoms typical of parasympathetic system depression: dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, dry skin, dry mouth, and dry respiratory passages. Because the drug depresses the central nervous system it is used as a sedative to treat such diseases as Parkinson’s.  When combined with morphine it creates a twig light sleep.  Overdoses cause delirium, delusions, paralysis, and stupor.  Below is a documentary about Scopolamine, narrated by Ryan Duffy a vice correspondent who believes the story of this drug really needs to be heard.