In the crime ridden streets of Colombia, urban myths tell of the horrors surrounding a local drug nicknamed “the devil’s breath.”
The drug’s real name is scopolamine, an anticholinergic drug derived from a number of trees native to South America. Hailed in a 2013 Vice documentary as ‘the world’s scariest drug,’ scopolamine is known to turn its user (or victim rather) into a docile zombie ready to do exactly what its perpetrator wants.
In an attempt to learn more about the mysterious underground drug, Vice’s Ryan Duffy flew down to South America to interview those who deal the drug as well those who’ve fallen victim to it.
One drug dealer out of the capital Bogota claims the most frightening part about the drug is its simple method of administration, which can see the colourless, odourless drug blown in the faces of its victims, taking effect almost instantaneously.
Scopolamine has a remarkable ability to wipe its victims memory clean, so that the next day there is no recollection of what transpired while under its influence. Stories run rampant throughout Colombia of people being raped, having their bank accounts emptied, or even willingly giving up an organ.
This makes scopolamine an effective weapon for drug dealers, thieves and even prostitutes, as shown in Vice’s documentary short.
“They go out to party and then wake up two or three days later on a park bench,” said Maria Fernanda Villota, a nurse at San Jose University Hospital in Bogota, which receives several scopolamine victims every week. “They arrive here without their belongings or their money.”
Last year, Colombian police reported nearly 1,200 cases of people victimized by criminals using scopolamine and other so-called zombie drugs. The victims range from high-profile politicians to U.S. Embassy employees to average Colombians. Perhaps the number of cases are related to the drug’s availability, whose metabolites can be found in a number of plants, including jimson weed, angel’s trumpets and corkwood.
Scopolamine is a muscarinic antagonist which works by blocking the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, resulting in depression of the central nervous system. The few medical uses include treatment of motion sickness as well as treatment of symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Even the CIA has been called out for using scopolamine in behavioural-engineering programs from the 1960s, according to John D. Marks’ book, The Search for the ‘Manchurian Candidate.’
The Vice documentary makes for a fascinating watch, I highly recommend it to anyone fascinated with the underground world of the drug trade. Here’s what Ryan Duffy had to say about his experience while filming the piece:
When VBS initially asked me to go down to Colombia to dig into this Scopolamine story, I was pretty excited. I had only a vague understanding of the drug, but the idea of a substance that renders a person incapable of exercising free-will seemed liked a recipe for hilarity and the YouTube hall of fame. I even spent a little time brainstorming the various ways I could transport some of it back to the states and had a pretty good list going of different ways to utilize it on my buddies.
The original plan was for me to sample the drug myself to really get an idea of the effect it had on folks. The producer and camera man had flew down to Bogota ahead of me to confirm some meetings and start laying down the groundwork. By the time I arrived a few days later, things had changed dramatically. Their first few days in the country had apparently been such a harrowing montage of freaked-out dealers and unimaginable horror stories about Scopolamine that we decided I was absolutely not going to be doing the drug.
All elements of humor and novelty were rapidly stripped away during my first few days in town. After meeting only a couple people with firsthand experience, the story took a far darker turn than we ever could have imagined, and the Scopolamine pranks I had originally imagined pulling on my friends seemed beyond naive and absurd.
By the time we were wrapping things up and preparing to leave the country, I couldn’t wait to get as far away from Colombia and that drug as possible. Apologies for a fleeting moment of sincerity, but looking back, I’m pretty proud of the work we did down there. This story, and the people who tell it, truly deserve to be heard.”
[youtube id=”ToQ8PWYnu04″]
Scopolamine is also one of the 3 alkaloids in the plant belladonna, along with hyoscyamine and atropine.
A very long time ago, I ate a large quantity of belladonna, and had severe and extremely unpleasant hallucinations for 3 days and nights, without sleep.
I had purchased a large tin of Asthmador in a drugstore, for only $1. Smoking it had no effect, but eating it was quite different! I recommend *not* experimenting with those alkaloids – you would regret it, if you survived. Look at Hieronymus Bosch’s painting of Hell, and some of Bruegel’s darker works.
~ from Wikipedia:
Scopolamine was also one of the active ingredients in Asthmador, an over-the-counter smoking preparation marketed in the 1950s and ’60s claiming to combat asthma and bronchitis. In November 1990, the US Food and Drug Administration forced OTC products with scopolamine and several hundred other ingredients that had allegedly not been proved effective off the market.
Scopolamine shared a small segment of the OTC sleeping pill market with diphenhydramine, phenyltoloxamine, pyrilamine, doxylamine, and other first-generation antihistamines, many of which are still used for this purpose in drugs such as Sominex, Tylenol PM, NyQuil, etc.
If u r going to do a drug like this u r a fool to do a drug as such said This is a drug u drink I supose u can eat it well I have something to share with all u heathens learn how to do rgs before attempting a killer I smoke I could get hi off cigs with dan fltr ill show any fool that wants learn u supply cigs tell none Ill show all I wood rather smoke it but it dont matter however done any drug all u have to do is ba true fool I suck normal air in mouth
Yes, scopolamine acts against the cholinergic system, but that’s not a mechanism of action in the effects of the drug. Benadryl is also an anti-cholinergic. Scopolamine was made famous by Jimson weed, AKA Jamestown weed, one of the daturas. Users of the drugs in this class sometimes have visions of monsters or other outright delusions, much more severe than hallucinogens. Other drugs in this class are atropine, made famous by atropa belladonna, and hyoscamine, more well-known for hyoscamus niger, or henbane, often credited for medieval witches visions of flying. It is these chemicals that gave the nightshades their infamous reputation, although not all nightshades contain dangerous levels of such substances. Collectively these chemicals are known as deliriants to separate them from hallucinogens. Their potency levels are much lower than even the lowest potency hallucinogens, which use mescaline as the unit for the scale of potency. One chemical that seems to bridge the gap between hallucinogens and deliriants is muscimol, found in fly agaric mushrooms.
Interestingly it has been suggested that some mushrooms that would otherwise be highly poisonous due to their muscarine content are less so due to the presence of atropine, which in addition to being a deliriant class drug is also the antidote for muscarine poisoning. The drug belladonna, which contains atropine, was named for its use in very small doses to dilate the pupils of ladies in Italy because it was considered a beautiful look.
@George Edward Purdy That was a comment ! if i could give something back ? Amanita Muscaria @Chernobyl
slayerwulfe cave
is this drug the same as DATURA for I have something growing indoors that looks like this?
Yes – same as Datura.
probably more in the nightshade family, you have a starting point to research if U wish
slayerwulfe
Only IN Colombia
thesource-hq.com
Hi Jeff,
The country you are talking about is Colombia not Columbia and although the vice documentary is pretty good, it is missing the other side of this amazing plant which is how the shamans use it to help people overcome trauma and illnesses. If you a really interested in this topic have a look a the book “The river” by Wade Davis. Plants are amazing, is up to us if we use them for good or bad purposes.
Best,
Hi Mario, is it the same as ayahuasca? That is what I beleive the shamans in amazonian Peru to do the week long ceremony that helps with trauma, PTSD and so much more. It is in a vine that is mixed with plant species containing DMT like chacruna in order to the brew. I didn’t think this was the same plant
those grow all over Florida.. known as Angel trumpets, they are very deadly if not processed correctly
We call this ” trumpet lily ” here in the Philippines. I thought it was just an ornamental plant until I learned it has a healing effect to asthma & bronchitis. However, when abused, it can kill. My neighbor almost died when he experimented on it. He became unconscious f& in coma for 3 days in the hospital. Beware…anything in excess is harmful !
In Puerto Rico they made a tea out of the plant that’s called Te de Campana (Bell’s Tea) and have irreparable damage to the brain. In other words, every people who drink it go crazy forever. There’s no Passover on the effects. Really dangerous. Even your parents warns their children about it.
I’ve taken twice, and yes now I am very crazy without any psychological barrier… hahaha
Please let’s make the world a better place to leave and enjoy its good fruit-ages and more.
So, as a colombian I must say, and I hope not to bother anybody, that my country is not full of scopolamine-rampants on the streets. Great country with countless other stuff to see and do. Just wanted to clear that out.
Loved the documentary.
Is Ayahuasca same as “te de campana”?
no!
but some ayahuasca mixtures has a few of this “campana”
that “te” must be taken carefully because it’s a toxic compound, trippy because you are intoxicated, not high and you could die if overdose. (I’ve taken twice that tea, but never again…)
I’ve used oral scopolamine (Scopace, Hope Pharm.) multiple times to prevent seasickness while sailing. Neither I or any of my crew who used it experienced any of the side effects mentioned in this story (other than the anticholinergic effects). I have a feeling there is either a bit of exaggeration in this story, or we just didn’t use enough.