Laurence Dollimore
BRITONS in Spain have been warned of a powerful drug that can wipe people’s memory.
Scopolamine – aka Devil’s Breath – is said to eliminate free will and turn people into living zombies.
Victims have emptied their bank accounts and have even helped burglars rob their own homes.
The drug is made from the Borrachero Tree, which is common in Colombia.
Police fear its presence is increasing in Spain after a woman in Mallorca tested positive for the drug.
Reports say she was drugged by an ex who had bought the substance online.
When she arrived at hospital she was suffering from drowsiness, clouded vision and incoherent speech.
She was confused and unsteady on her feet and had no recollection of what had happened.
There have been several cases of robbers using it across Spain and officials say it is also used in street crimes and sexual assaults.
The drug is a fairly commonly prescribed drug used by people for motion sickness and postoperative nausea and vomiting. It is used by scuba divers to help them cope with the ‘bends’ and is otherwise known as Hyoscine hydrobromide or Scopolamine hydrobromide.
The tree that it is made from in South America is related to the deadly nightshade family of plants, Solanaceae , Henbane , Datura etc.
It would seem that unscrupulous people are using this drug instead of Rohypnol (GHB) in order to subdue their targets before they strike, probably most common on the coast.
I do have to question whether it turns people into living zombies, emptying their own bank accounts, although I don’t doubt that is has some nasty effects or side effects.
Perhaps if British people didn’t drink so much alcohol then they wouldn’t present this opportunity in the first place. Alcohol kills 9,000 people a year in the UK, not just one year, every year. Alcohol and ignorance are the real killers and dangers to society, not so much other substances or drugs.
Yes, excessive drinking presents opportunity for criminal behavior. But lets not blame victims. My friend’s 19 year old daughter was drugged and sexually assaulted while at a student party in a university town. While the Guardia Civil determined who did it, evidentiary rules made it impossible to prosecute. In another case a late middle aged couple were drugged on a long distance train, then robbed. While I agree that so-called ‘parties’ are often an excuse for binge drinking, drugging is a serious crime.
A question to ask is: Why do these northern European immigrants and tourists need to use alcohol to excess to have ‘fun’? In a conversation with the young woman’s 16 year old brother, he said “Staying out half the night at fiestas isn’t really fun. People just get drunk and don’t know know they aren’t funny or interesting: they just act stupid.”