And Then?

A pretty harmless-looking flower, wouldn't you say? Looks like a morning glory. You are looking at, perhaps the most sinister plant in existence. It produces a psychotropic mind-altering drug, Scopolamine, commonly known as "Devil's Breath. 

I was drawn toward psychiatry and mind-exploring when I was quite young. Mind control was a popular theme for b/w espionage movies of the 40's and 50's because it had been used through-out WW2 and later, the cold war. Germany, Russia and the CIA favored Scopolamine to carry out kidnapping, assassinations and suicides because it left no recognizable traces of foul play. It's so easy to administer without the victim knowing and here is the reason for the drug's popularity; the victim can receive a command to carry out a dastardly act and when (or if) he awakens, he has absolutely no memory of what he did from the time the drug was given. Usually the victim is not aware the drug is being administered because it can be a fine powder blown on him.

I became intrigued with this drug's ability to enslave. My quest for information continued, when at age 17, I entered psychiatric nurses training for hands-on and classroom studies at a psych hospital. Chemical drugs were just beginning to be popular but many of the plant-based drugs had been in use for a long, long time. I wish I had a buck for every electro or insulin shock treatment I helped administer as they became popular. We received excellent training at the time but now treatments are highly advanced and my training would be terribly archaic.

Scopolamine, from the Borrachero tree, is indigenous to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, with Colombia leading in it's use for evil. A crook can wave a piece of scopolamine-laced paper in front of a victim's face and he's hooked. Without any resistance, the victim will give up money, and all his possessions. Easy pick'ns for a crook, huh? It was a handy tool for the KGB and CIA to administer with a fluff of the hand under the nose of an already declared mentally disturbed person, give the order to assassinate and then commit suicide. (Get it??? Go shoot a certain group of people and then shoot yourself.  Why???  You know the answer and if you do't, I have an armful of Rolex watches to sell you).

I see skepticism on the faces of the snoozers if I mention this. Because of my age, they assume I am the demented one. OK..... go back to sleep and snooze on. 

This drug appears to be kept quiet (almost secret) today. There was more written information about it when I was young because we didn't have TV or internet and reporting by the press was more open.  There is so much more to be said about the scary plant and if you're interested, there is a rather long but interesting fact-filled video following. You can view it below or the link is HERE. Adios Amigos 

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````