#devil's breath

Have you ever heard of a narcotic called devil’s breath? Back in 2012, Vice released a documentary on a narcotic that was dubbed the most dangerous drug in the world, the drug in question is called scopolamine, also known as devil’s breath. Vice’s video series focused on how the narcotic was utilized in Colombian crime to render a victim unconscious mentally but not physically for around 24 hours. The series was quite informative but it failed to differentiate potential urban legends from fact and didn’t mention any of the other many uses of the chemical. Scopolamine is most commonly used as medication to treat motion sickness, postoperative nausea and vomiting, it also can be used to decrease saliva before surgery. It currently is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicine. It was originally used as an anesthetic in the early 1900s, around the same time it was to relive pain and induce amnesia during child birth when paired with morphine. Just like LSD, the effects of scopolamine were tested to be used at a potential truth serum for interrogations, but this study was dropped due to the side effects of the narcotic. Scopolamine has also become a standard drug for experimentally inducing cognitive defects in animals to further help scientific research. Despite being called the world’s most dangerous drug, it’s still got quite the few properties to it that need to be appreciated and shouldn’t be overlooked.