Scopolamine - Colombia's 'Devil’s Breath' Drug Information from SoCal Rehab Facility

by slbts
The drug is known as scopolamine or “devil’s breath” is used as a kind of mind control agent to reduce people’s free will and coerce them into doing things.

Scopolamine is a new drug (well not new per se, but it is new to us) that a recent expose from Vice.com (via CNN)  has brought to our attention. 

The drug reminds this writer of rohypnol (or “rufies) because it is used to take advantage of people.  The main difference between scopolamine and rufies is that people who are under the influence of scopolamine can be alert and articulate… and yet unable to resist suggestion.

Per the Vice.com article and video, the drug is so notorious that when they went to Colombia to seek out the drug - the responses they got were fearful and suspicious.

Before getting the processed drug, the team visited a botanical garden where they found the found the “Borrachero Tree” (a datura plant) that contains burundanga which is the active ingredient socopolamine. The borrachero tree is native to Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador and the active ingredient burundanga is taken from the cacao seeds.

Disturbing Accounts of Scopolamine Abuses

The video documentary interviews many people who have experienced scopolamine (both as victim and perpetrator).  The video leaves many questions, like for instance how the drug can apparently “hypnotize” people - rendering them powerless to resist suggestion but still completely articulate but in other cases makes people instantly unconscious.  Many accounts discuss “devil’s breath's” high instance of deadly overdose.

Also, there are varying accounts of being able to “swipe someone’s face” or “blow the drug into someone’s face” and then control their mind through the power of suggestion. This drug's reputation seems to be mixed in with a little bit of local folklore and superstition (much as the hallucinogenic drugs like DMT aka cohoba are in the Vodou culture of Haiti).

                                                           
 One thing that the video makes the viewer acutely aware of is that Columbia is a dangerous place and participating in the nightlife their (as a tourist or a resident) is fraught with peril. Colombia is known for being “the cocaine capital of the world.” 1 in 3 kidnappings that happen in the world happen in Colombia. 

The interviewees who discuss being “dosed” with scopolamine have crazy stories that usually end with waking up after a blackout and then retroactively piecing together what happened under the drug's influence.  Very commonly the victim is taken to their ATM for a major withdrawal, and more than one reported helping the perpetrators empty their house of all their belongings – sometimes in the plain view of people who knew them.    

A prostitute in the video discusses with cold blooded practicality how she can use devil’s breath to take advantage of men in the bars and nightclubs. Scopolamine is also used as a date rape drug.    

Dangers of Scopolamine

Per the Colombians, the drug is called devil’s breath because “it steals your soul.”

We have come across such large variety of hallucinogens in our twenty five years of treating addiction that it is safe to say that even beyond the risk of fatal overdose, scopolamine is not a safe recreational drug.

Scopolamine has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes including as a sedative and to treat nausea and motion sickness.  Scopolamine has even been researched to treat addiction (which doesn’t surprise considering the other research that has been done with hallucinogens like ayahuasca and ibogaine).

However, while many drug users who are fond of hallucinogens feel righteous about using them because of their “natural” origin and long history of use back to ancient times, we warn strongly for users to beware of hallucinogens.  Incidentally, the street drug "devil's breath" that was purchased in the Vice.com documentary was processed and powdered - it looked like cocaine.

Many of the users in the vice.com documentary talked about memory loss.  One man has continual memory loss and also suffers terrifying nightmares since his use.  This is consistent with other accounts we’ve seen of heavy hallucinogen use.

Also, we know that people who have psychedelic experiences using hypnotic drugs like scopolamine have also reported longer term mental health issues like depression, confusion, and in extreme circumstances, psychotic episodes.  The potential to go into a dissociated state can leave someone with a lingering traumatic effects.

While scopolamine seems to be a predatorial drug that is foisted upon unsuspecting targets by people aiming to do them harm, we do not hesitate to suspect that the drug can and will be used for recreational “pleasure.”  This is similar to the drug “rufies” (rohypnol), which is primarily known as a “date rape drug” but also is abused as a party drug.

If you have questions about hallucinogens, or any drug of abuse, please do not hesitate to call the Sober Living by the Sea hotline (866-323-5609) to have all of your questions answered confidentially by an  addiction specialist.