Fun Stuff > CHATTER

Burundanga: Colombian Devil's Breath

(1/14) > >>

Ballard:
A friend linked me to an excellent 9-part documentary on what I believe to be the scariest fucking drug I've ever heard of. It's called burundanga in Colombia; it's also known as datura, scopolamine, or Devil's Breath. It looks exactly like cocaine, but an ounce of it is enough to kill 15-20 people. Administered correctly, it turns the victim into a virtual zombie. Countless stories are told of people who robbed their own houses, emptied their bank accounts, or allowed themselves to be raped while under the influence of the drug and had no memory of the events the next day. The burundanga plant thrives in forests all over Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador and even on sidewalks in city centers.

In other words, this is quite possibly the most frightening drug known to man.

http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bctid=1119242704&bccl=MTExOTE3NDYwNF9fTkVXUw==

thehollow:
I actually found out about this stuff awhile ago, from a lyric in a Murder by Death song about zombies that mentions datura. It knew it was pretty fucked up shit, but the stuff they talk about in this video is insane. I only watched a bit of it, I'll probably watch the rest tomorrow.

KickThatBathProf:
"Columbia is essentially fucked"

nice

ImRonBurgundy?:

--- Quote from: wikipedia ---In the United States it is called Jimson weed, Gypsum weed, Angel Trumpet, Hells Bells or more rarely Jamestown Weed; it got this name from the town of Jamestown, Virginia, where British soldiers were secretly or accidentally drugged with it, while attempting to suppress Bacon's Rebellion. They spent several days chasing feathers, making monkey faces, generally acting like lunatics, and indeed failed at their mission:


--- Quote from: Robert Beverly ---Some of the soldiers sent thither to quell the rebellion of Bacon (1676); and some of them ate plentifully of it, the effect of which was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days: one would blow up a feather in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner like a monkey, grinning and making mows [grimaces] at them; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll.

In this frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves- though it was observed that all their actions were full of innocence and good nature. Indeed, they were not very cleanly; for they would have wallowed in their own excrements, if they had not been prevented. A thousand such simple tricks they played, and after 11 days returned themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed. – Robert Beverly, The History and Present State of Virginia, 1705
--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---

dennis:
The documentary sounds like a lot of scaremongering mixed in with good information.

The datura and its active components are pretty well-documented in the medical literature and atropine and scopolamine are widely-used. I think the documentary is basically blowing up a couple of sensationalist stories.

I mean, scopolamine is what they put in motion-sickness patches.

(I'm watching it now and will amend my comments if necessary)

Ok, finished watching. I have been trying to find corroboration for the scopolamine-assisted crime stories in the VBS piece, but all I can find are articles that mention the VBS piece itself, or this article which seems to be the source material for nearly all of the content in the VBS piece. There is this article from the Overseas Security Advisory Council which mentions scopolamine being used to rob tourists, but it says that the drug "can render a victim unconscious for 24 hours or more" and not that it turns them into zombie puppets.

Also, I didn't find the interviews very convincing. The first scopolomine victim they interviewed remembered in detail his experience, even though they point out that scopolamine causes amnesia and none of the other victims interviewed remembered anything. The guy they found to get them scopolamine appeared to be high on something. Maybe it's just because I don't speak New World Spanish, but I also got the impression that the interviewees were embellishing their stories or just straight up acting. Everyone was well-spoken and fairly polished, as if they'd been practicing like Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs. Also, the video was mostly so badly lit that I couldn't see anything anyway.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page