http://www.soberliving.com/resources/addictions/scopolamine-colombias-devil2019s-breath-drug-information-from-socal-rehab-facility
Scopolamine - Colombia's 'Devil’s Breath' Drug Information from SoCal Rehab Facility
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).
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/06/27/medical-examiner-causeway-cannibal-not-high-on-bath-salts/
Scopolamine - Colombia's 'Devil’s Breath' Drug Information from SoCal Rehab Facility
by slbts — last modified May 15, 2012 09:48 AM
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.
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.
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.
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.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/06/27/medical-examiner-causeway-cannibal-not-high-on-bath-salts/
Medical Examiner: Causeway Cannibal Not High On Bath Salts
June 27, 2012 6:55 PM
(Photo by Miami Beach Police Department via Getty Images)
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Rudy Eugene, the Causeway Cannibal who ate the face off a homeless man he attacked along the MacArthur Causeway, was apparently not high on bath salts or any other exotic street drug at the time of the attack, according to a report released Wednesday by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner.
The news leaves law enforcement officials wondering what drove Eugene to strip off his clothes, attack homeless man Ronald Poppo, and chew off pieces of flesh from Poppo’s face.Speculation about the cause of Eugene’s rampage on Poppo’s face centered on drugs, specifically bath salts, after police union officials claimed an increase in bizarre behavior among people on the street using such drugs.
The much-anticipated toxicology report released by Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma found marijuana in Eugene’s system, something CBS4 News had previously reported, but no evidence of any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs, or any adulterants found in street drugs.
The report said this includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (Ecstasy, Meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or Angel Dust), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (Spice), and many other similar compounds.
Hyma’s office specifically ruled out bath salts, a class of synthetic drugs that have been known to cause bizarre behavior and overheating of people who use them, two things that made some believe Eugene’s cannibalistic behavior could be blamed on the drugs.
“The department has also sought the assistance of an outside forensic toxicology reference laboratory, which has confirmed the absence of “bath salts,” synthetic marijuana and LSD,” the report said.
“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories, marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene.”
The news from the medical examiner sends investigators back to square one as they look for what caused Eugene’s bizarre behavior.
A girlfriend and a friend who had seen Eugene hours before the attack said he had used marijuana, but had seen him use no other drug before traveling to the Urban Beach Weekend on Miami Beach the morning of the attack.
Eugene abandoned his car on the beach and walked back to Miami on the MacArthur Causeway, stripping off his clothes during the three-mile trip, and at one point he was spotted swinging from a lamp post.
Once on the Miami side of the causeway, he encountered Poppo where the MiamiMover crosses the causeway, in view of security cameras atop the Miami Herald building. Those cameras detailed how the naked cannibal attacked the much older Poppo, knocked him to the ground, and stripped him of his clothing.
Once overcome, Eugene chewed flesh from Poppo’s face, but a later autopsy report found he did not actually eat it.
A police officer was called to the scene by people who spotted the bizarre attack. He tried to intervene but was forced to shoot, killing Eugene and apparently striking the badly wounded Poppo.
Poppo, who was taken to Ryder Trauma Center, survived the attack but has no memory of it. His face was virtually destroyed but doctors say much of it can be repaired.
Eugene’s family and friends say they are clueless about why he attacked Poppo, claiming the former high school football player and car wash employee had never shown such violent tendencies. Many believed drugs were to blame, but with Wednesday’s report the search has begun for a new cause for one of South Florida’s most bizarre crimes.
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