'World's scariest drug' has been used by organised crime gangs

A substance dubbed the ‘world’s scariest drug’ is once again in the headlines after it was reportedly used in a robbery case in Colombia.

Scopolamine – also known as 'burundanga' or Devil's Breath – is known to cause a range of terrifying side effects including dry mouth, racing heart rate, tremors and migraine headaches.

But you can expect a lot of these from your standard party drugs, so what is it that makes the drug so feared?

Well, Devil’s Breath has the ability to turn people into a trance-like state, leaving them at the whim of whoever’s there to take advantage. 

What’s more, burundanga – which is derived from one of the most toxic ornamental plants in the world – is incredibly potent and even smelling flowers which contain the drug can cause problems.

In larger doses it can even lead to respiratory issues or be fatal, though in most cases it's used to rid people of their free will and rob them blind.

K J Bennett / Alamy Stock Photo

To make matters worse, organised crime gangs have weaponised the drug to commit rapes, robberies and kidnapping on unwilling victims cruelly rendered unable to resist.

Awareness of the drug rose sharply after a 2012 Vice documentary investigating the impact it was having on Colombia.

In the documentary, Capt Romero Mendoza from the Bogota City Police Department explained that 'organised gangs' preying on unsuspecting victims will drug them with Devil's Breath before convincing them to go 'to banks and ATM machines' where they 'make them take all their money out'.

Police said in other instances victims would be 'kidnapped' by the crime gangs.

The drug is appealing to organised crime gangs as it leaves victims unable to remember many details of what happened to them, making it all but impossible for the police to identify suspects.

A trio of diplomats from the Moroccan embassy in Colombia were recently targeted by just such a scheme, with local media reporting that they met two escorts in their apartment before being drugged and robbed.

According to 'unofficial estimates' from the US's Overseas Security Advisory Council, there are an estimated 50,000 annual incidents involving scopolamine in Colombia.

Jesse Kraft / Alamy Stock Photo

A popular story about the way people are drugged with Devil's Breath is through being handed business cards laced with the debilitating drug.

The idea is that touching the card will bring your skin into contact with the drug, almost immediately putting you in a zombie-like state where you'll do or say anything someone suggests to you.

However, this is likely not the way most people get drugged with burundanga, as the drug is absorbed through the skin slowly.

According to Snopes: "This drug needs to be swallowed or inhaled if it is to have the effect described here; mere incidental tactile contact with an item permeated by it wouldn’t deliver a sufficient quantity to the intended victim’s system."

People affected by the 'world's scariest drug' are more likely to have ingested it in food or drink which has been spiked with burundanga, while others with experience of it also tell of it being blown into people's faces.

Travel advice suggests people wary of being affected by Devil's Breath should never accept food or drink from people they don't know, and not to leave their own food or drink unattended.

Scopolamine also has a dark history of use as a 'truth serum', with Nazi 'angel of death' Josef Mengele using it for interrogations, while the CIA also experimented with possible uses during the early 1960s.

Additional words by Daisy Phillipson.

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