The "Borrachero" (which means ‘the drunkard’) tree grows throughout northern parts of South America, has a beautiful white flower which akin to an orchid or lily, but unlike orchid's or lilies Borrachero seeds, which are contained in pods that hang from the branches, are lethal.
Ironically the flowers are called "Angel's Trumpets" but people use the seeds to make "Scopolamine", or "Devil's Breath" a powdery drug which, when administered in small doses, results in hallucinations and a hypnotized state, and in larger quantities ("larger" meaning as little as one (1) gram...) causes death.
It seems that Angel's Trumpets / Devil's Breath has a long history of use. Tribes in South America reportedly used to administer Scopolamine to the wives of dead tribal chiefs, who, under tribal tradition, had to be buried alive with their husbands after they died. Taken from the seeds of the tree which grows wild in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela the drug facilitated such women being persuaded to walk happily into the graves to their gruesome deaths. Per Robert Beverley's 1705 book on the history of Virginia as far back as 1676 the drug was said to have been used against British soldiers in early colonial America by tricking British soldier's into eating food which had been secretly laced with Devil’s Breath shortly before they were due to fight. The soldiers reportedly "spent several days making monkey faces and generally acting like lunatics. One soldier was found stark naked, sitting in a corner like a monkey, grimacing at his comrades. The troops were in such a frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves — for they would have wallowed in their own excrement, if they had not been prevented. And then after 11 days returned themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed." Throughout South American history the seeds have been used by shamans or witch doctors who brewed the seeds into a tea which was used to discipline children, who reportedly experienced terrifying hallucinations after a tiny dose of the poison, in the hope that they would see terrifying visions of their dead ancestors telling them to behave. Murderer Hawley Harvey Crippen, infamously known as Dr Crippen, was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London in 1910 after killing his wife with Devil’s Breath and burying her body, then fleeing with his lover. From the 1920's through the 1930's Scopolamine was used for mainstream medical purposes, with doctors administering it to mothers in labor so as to induce a "twilight sleep" to ease the pain of childbirth.
Doctors reported that women given Scopolamine "answered questions accurately and with rare candor" so, in the 1920s Dr Robert House, a Texas obstetrician, managed to persuade authorities to let him use the drug on two prisoners in the Dallas County Jail. Per reports, upon questioning the inmates Dr. House discovered that their protestations of innocence had not changed and, since they were unable to lie, his experiments led to the acquittal of both men, causing a local newspaper covering the case coined the term "truth serum". However, use of the drug for both medical purposes and in courts was abandoned in the 1930s after users reported horrifying hallucinations and depression.
Enter the Nazis... Joseph Mengele, the Nazi’s so-called "Angel of Death", freely used Scopolamine during experiments on Jewish prisoners...
And, naturally, for a period of time the C.I.A. also administered Scopolamine as a "truth serum" during interrogations, even reportedly having been tested inside of America as part of a secretive CIA-run operation to test mind-control drugs for the interrogation of Cold War prisoners - a program which was reportedly halted in 1973.
Back to the future... Just recently, while walking through the cosmopolitan streets of Paris’s 20th Arrondissement, not very far from Jim Morrison’s tomb, a respectable, elderly lady was approached by a Chinese woman asking for directions. As the pair bent over a map, the Chinese woman blew a tiny dust cloud of white powder into the face of the helpful Parisian, and what happened next is like something from a horror film.
This is but one in a series of cases which have horrified police as the drug is apparently being used by criminal gangs in Europe to "zombify" unsuspecting victims who are then easily persuaded to hand over their most valuable possessions. Among those recently robbed using Devil’s Breath was the elderly lady in Paris, one of at least 20 people targeted in recent days by a criminal gang in the French capital. The gang’s MO (modus operandi) seems almost too easy: They simply blow the drug into the faces of their victims, leaving them physically functioning, but mentally unable to resist orders. According to sources close to the French investigation, victims fell into a "hypnotic state under the total sway of their handlers" after this powder was blown into their faces. A police source reportedly added: "They got the victims to take them to their home, where they asked them to put all their jewellery and money into a bag and hand it over to them."
Two Chinese women and a European man who belong to the gang are now under arrest, but the fear is that hundreds of others across Europe could already have fallen victim to such criminals, or will be attacked in the near future. Per authorities, Devil’s Breath is a substance so toxic and powerful that it turns everyone who ingests it into "zombies", devoid of their own free will. In a recent TV documentary, Devil’s Breath was dubbed by law enforcement officers as the "most terrifying drug in the world".
Miriam Gutierrez, a toxicology expert in Bogota, Colombia, explained: "From a medical point of view, it’s the perfect substance to commit criminal acts, because the victim won’t remember anything." Because of the amnesia brought on by Devil’s Breath, investigating this new crime wave has proved problematic. French Police smashed the ring only after a handful of victims contacted them, having vaguely remembered what happened. Victims admitted they had co-operated with thieves and even handed over passwords and pins for bank accounts while in "dream-like" states. While one of the Chinese women in the gang blew the dust in her victims’ faces, the other told passers-by that she had a mixture of plants which had powerful medicinal qualities and persuaded people to have a sniff. The police investigation into the gang’s activities led detectives to the Chinese women who had been operating from a hotel room in a drab suburb in the north of the French capital, where powder believed to be Devil’s Breath, along with weighing scales and surgical gloves, were discovered. But the gang is thought to be part of a much bigger criminal network operating across Europe and the U.S. and now, with the first cases of the drug being used by criminal gangs in Europe, there are fears that its use will rocket.
In Colombia, some 50,000 people a year already reportedly fall victim to the Devil’s Breath gangs. Usually, the poison, which is also used as a date-rape drug, is slipped into the victim’s drink. One U.S. resident in Columbia reportedly told how he woke up in the morning, having met some locals in a bar the night before, to find his expensive apartment had been emptied of everything he owned. When he asked the doorman on his apartment block what had happened, the American was told that he had himself helped a group of men load up a van with all his possessions, all the while being under the influence of the drug. The victim had no recollection of this whatsoever.
Miriam Gutierrez, a toxicology expert in Bogota, Colombia, explained: "From a medical point of view, it’s the perfect substance to commit criminal acts, because the victim won’t remember anything." Because of the amnesia brought on by Devil’s Breath, investigating this new crime wave has proved problematic. French Police smashed the ring only after a handful of victims contacted them, having vaguely remembered what happened. Victims admitted they had co-operated with thieves and even handed over passwords and pins for bank accounts while in "dream-like" states. While one of the Chinese women in the gang blew the dust in her victims’ faces, the other told passers-by that she had a mixture of plants which had powerful medicinal qualities and persuaded people to have a sniff. The police investigation into the gang’s activities led detectives to the Chinese women who had been operating from a hotel room in a drab suburb in the north of the French capital, where powder believed to be Devil’s Breath, along with weighing scales and surgical gloves, were discovered. But the gang is thought to be part of a much bigger criminal network operating across Europe and the U.S. and now, with the first cases of the drug being used by criminal gangs in Europe, there are fears that its use will rocket.
In Colombia, some 50,000 people a year already reportedly fall victim to the Devil’s Breath gangs. Usually, the poison, which is also used as a date-rape drug, is slipped into the victim’s drink. One U.S. resident in Columbia reportedly told how he woke up in the morning, having met some locals in a bar the night before, to find his expensive apartment had been emptied of everything he owned. When he asked the doorman on his apartment block what had happened, the American was told that he had himself helped a group of men load up a van with all his possessions, all the while being under the influence of the drug. The victim had no recollection of this whatsoever.
Others have not escaped so lightly. One man in Colombia was reportedly coerced into giving up his kidney after Devil’s Breath was blown in his face, and literal scores of Colombian women have reportedly been raped after their drinks were spiked with Devil’s Breath. Still another victim told how she was persuaded to hand over her baby to people smugglers. Recently, a woman was raped last year in Spain's tourist resort of Benalmadena, having lost her memory after just one drink with a local man. The woman woke up 12 hours later, under a bridge and naked from the waist down. Initial blood and urine tests showed no traces of any substances, leading police to believe she was lying, but hair samples taken a month later proved that she had been drugged with Devil’s Breath. Never forgetting historical significance (South American tribal ritual, drugging RedCoats, Nazi experiments and use as a CIA truth serum), the recent appearances of Scopolamine in Spain and Paris begs the question of how long will it be before we see a victim of Devil’s Breath on American soil?
Michael A. Haber, P.A.: Creative, effective and zealous criminal defense advocacy since 1991.
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