A drug that deals with motion sickness, sleep problems, flatulence and other gastrointestinal disturbances. Sounds like a great drug, right?
This drug also has the reputation of a truth-serum. Under the influence of this drug, an experienced operator can make you release passwords, empty bank accounts, and even engage in sexual acts without your consent or even knowledge. It is said scopolamine will eliminate your will, and the US State Department warns that under the influence of Scopolamine, you’re "powerless to resist criminal orders." Scopolamine can render a person somewhat disoriented and rather talkative, and induce retrograde amnesia, wherein no memory of occurrences during your time on this drug survive. You may, however, remember what you experienced while on this drug in the form of a dream, probably not too surprising considering users are said to feel as if they are in a dream while on this drug. Actual memories may come back into your consciousness years later. In criminal applications it’s rare that the victims remember the assailants.
This compound is a highly soluble, tasteless, colourless, and odourless substance. It can be smoked, inhaled (blown in a victim's face), given as a liquid, offered in chewing gum or candies, pressed into pills, and slipped into drinks.
Scopolamine’s illegitimate uses are far more interesting then its authorized uses. In one common scenario, a person will be offered a soda or drink laced with the substance. The next thing the person remembers is waking up miles away, extremely groggy and with absolutely no memory of what happened. Generally, the person soon discovers that they are missing jewellery, money, car keys, and sometimes, they even discover that they have made multiple bank withdrawals. Little do they realize, they did this all on their own free will, or at least on their assailants free will. Scopolamine seems to be used more in robbery, as it can be blown into the victim’s face and they won’t remember anything. When it is used for rape it's largely used on university co-eds. Users of this drug often report distorted vision, more specifically, things being made wide and small, or other people's heads starting to stretch.
There is another drug that can be administrated with Scopolamine to induce temporary blindness.
Scopolamine is an ingredient in over-the-counter sleeping pills like Sominex, motion sickness patches, and at one time Contac.
In rural Colombia, where there is a large problem with illegal scopolamine use, a tree (may be a species of the tree daturas of genus Brugmansia, or Culera Borrachero) supplies the drug. The anticholinergic tropane, scopolamine, is also found in the European herbs belladonna ( Atropa belladonna), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), scopolia (Scopolia carniolica), and stramonium (Datura stramonium).