|
?:reviewBody
|
-
Our first sighting of the burundanga warning was an early May 2008 e-mailed alert that included precious little detail: the woman reported to have been drugged was identified only as Jaime Rodriguez's neighbor rather than by her own name, and the attack supposedly happened at a gas station in Katy, with no further indication of location or even the type of station (Shell, Chevron, etc.). Indeed, even the question of which Katy was left open (we know of one in Texas and one in Missouri, and there may well be others): What can be said with certainty, however, is that prior to the dissemination of this warning, no reports were showing up in the U.S. news of the day of people experiencing dizziness after being handed odd-smelling business cards by strangers, at gas stations or elsewhere. The account speculates the business card passed to the woman at the gas station had been imbued with burundanga, an extract of the datura plant (typically found in Colombia) which contains alkaloids such as scopolamine (the Devil's Breath of the May 2012 e-mailed alert) and atropine. However, burundanga has no scent (or flavor), so even a card saturated with it wouldn't be described as producing a strong odor. As well, this drug needs to be swallowed or inhaled if it is to have the effect described here; mere incidental tactile contact with an item permeated by it wouldn't deliver a sufficient quantity to the intended victim's system. The alkaloids contained in burundanga (scopolamine and atropine) are powerful toxins that at lower doses produce dry mouth, dizziness, sweating, and blurred vision, but at high doses can cause delirium and unconsciousness. Scopolamine has some legal medical applications, including its use as a treatment for Parkinson's disease, as a sedative, and as a motion sickness preventive. Burundanga is said to render its ingesters into disoriented zombies (awake and talkative but powerless to resist orders) and is believed to be used by robbers and rapists in Colombia to render potential victims tractable. It is sometimes termed a zombie powder and is regarded as a date rape drug. At higher doses, the drug can cause disorientation, memory loss, hallucinations, and convulsion, and its effects can last for days. Burundanga-drugged victims have reportedly been found days after they've gone missing, wandering aimlessly with no clear idea of what happened to them. Those under its influence have been known to empty their bank accounts, and even to act as drug mules. Typically, the drug is slipped into the food or drink of intended victims, or is packed into cigarettes or sticks of gum which are then offered to the targets. There is controversy as to how much of their free will victims ultimately surrender under the drug's sway. While there is little dispute that datura alkaloids do cause significant disorientation, there are those who believe burundanga's supposed brainwashing effects are better understood in terms of disinhibition which causes people to act in ways they later regret. The U.S. State Department's information about Colombia has for years cautioned travelers about such drugs. Its 21 June 2007 travel advisory about crime in that country said: A 31 October 2011 State Department travel advisory about crime in Thailand echoes that advice about scopolamine, saying: While burundanga is a frightening drug, in all our searching for information on it we failed to come across news articles about its being used in the U.S. The regions in and around the country of Colombia appear to be its hunting grounds. In November 2008 this false story about burundanga-soaked business cards gained the appearance of credence when a United Kingdom police officer's e-mail was circulated outside his department. Detective Constable Simon Lofting of Essex Police forwarded the much-traveled e-mail to intelligence officers to check if it was real, but what he meant strictly as a query somehow leaked to the general public with his signature block attached, thereby making it appear he was confirming the warning. Said the Essex Police of the matter: The email has been exposed as a hoax. The whole story, which hints the incident happened in Essex, was from an urban myths website and was altered to include a warning from an Essex Police marine unit officer. Anyone who receives it should delete it from their inbox. In July 2010 the following account, which places the assault in Kansas City, Missouri, and makes no mention of burundanga, began circulating in e-mail: As with the case of the perfume robbers tale, the dissemination of the burundanga legend has been followed by copycat reports of such crimes supposedly taking place, most prominently in Houston and Kansas City (as noted above). In neither did police determine that events occurred as reported, that the reportees were truly the targets of criminals, that the putative victims were sickened by something present on pieces of paper handed to them, or that burundanga (or any similar drug) was involved at all. Of the latter incident, the Kansas City police chief posted the findings of his department's investigation and concluded that It is highly unlikely that such brief skin contact with any type of toxin could produce such a fast response. It's more likely the victim suffered anxiety-related symptoms like a panic attack from the stress of the event. It is highly, highly unlikely that there is a man out there handing pieces of paper to women that drug them and render them ill. Variations: In late November 2017, a years-old screenshot of a Facebook post about criminals and incapacitating drugs began recirculating on social media: Credited to Angela Davidson and timestamped 7 hours ago, it read: As of November 2017 the screenshot had been in circulation for at least three years, and the initial post long deleted. This version combines elements of the burundanga/scopolamine legend with a similar baseless rumor about carjackers using $100 bills as bait (popular during the high-traffic holiday season at malls and shopping centers in the United States). Although both rumors are widespread and enduring, no credible reports of any such incident have emerged.
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}