& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

The Day Maria Took a Hypnotic Toffee

by Ifeter Nares
***Colombia is notorious as the world's largest exporter of processed cocaine. In the Andean republic itself not cocaine but another drug, scopolamine, presents the greatest threat to the public. Gemini News Service explains why Colombians fear the hypnotic drug used with devastating effect by crimnah.
Long-dtotanee buses in Colombia carry signs warning people not to accept refreshments Hquor and sweets offered by strangers. Coiombtana take the warning seriously
. They know that even the smallest toffee offered by a fellow-traveller could be drugged with scopolamine — or bunindanga. as the hypnotic drug ts known locally
In recent years there have been more than 6.000 cases of Scopolamine Intoxication in the country's largest cities. In several instances the alkaloid has caused death or permanent disability
Normally scopolamine poisoning is not fatal In most cases on record people given the drug are swiftly reduced to a helpless trance, as if by hypnosis, and their power to resist Is obliterated.
In this zombie-like state they can be manipulated at will by criminals and robbed with ease In full view of the pubHc without arousing suspicion
Early one morning Maria Jtmenez. a shopowner In the western city of Cali, left home tn a fashionable middle-class district and was about to enter her car when a man approached her He handed her a sheet of pdjxir — and thal is the last thing Maria remembers.
She came to 24 hours later tn a Call clinic. A passing driver had found her sitting by a road tn a state of amnesia. After Marta returned home, she found it had been stripped of everything of value.
On visiting her bank she found that while under, the influence of scopolamine given her by the thief she had called there and withdrawn all the money in her account. The case had gone. Presumably, under hypnosis brought on by scopolamine, she had meekly handed over the money to them man who drugged her.
The case remains unsolved. One reason is that Maria cannot remember the appearance of the thief who accompanied her to the bank and Instructed her to withdraw her savings. Amnesia Is a characteristic of scopolamine intoxication.
In a sense. Maria, whose surname has been altered in this report, was fortunate. She made a full recovery. Under scopolamine, she could have lost the contents of her shop If the thief had ordered her to
She would almost rertamly have handed over her
blindly without appreciating the consequences To the casual observer. their behaviour appears relatively normal.
As tn so many cases. It ts Still a mystery how the thief administered scopolamine to Maria. Possibly he numbed her with a paralysing gas spray before giving her a drugged sweet or soft drink Some thieves jab their victims with a syringe, filled with an anaes
Scopolamine began toattract the attention of Colombian doctors 2S years ago after a party of boy scouts camped out In the hills near Bogota. One ate the fruit of a wild plant and within minutes began acting wildly His faced turned red and hta speech was incoherent
Doctors discovered he had eaten the fruit of the Andean plant, the borrachero. the intoxicant that contains scopolamine Criminals began to harvest the plant and Isolate Its alkaloid element. Today tbey are on the black market for modest prices.
Thieves administer scopolamine mixed with tranquiltsers because if swallowed the drug can make people aggressive There Is' little evidence lo support Colombian press reports that scopolamine thieves can hypnotise people merely by blowing drugged cigarette smoke Into ihcir faces
In any event, the bun indan gueros. as the thieves arc dubbed, do not have to resort to such James Bond-style methods They just have lo catch people offguard for a second or two In the street or In buses and give them a drugged refreshment.
A favourite haunt of thecommon tn Colombian ettien Motorists often stop their vehicles at the ataBs to buy a
that IS the last thing they re
Tbey are sold drugged drinks or snacks and when they recover, find both rars
popular Colombian trlrvMon comedian. Fereho. k»sl his car
The burundanguerns arc also active in red light districts. sports stadiums passenger terminals sod buses Travellers arc drugged either before entering a longdistance bus or during the journey After being robbed they arc left comatose In the vehicles
Usually they recover within 24 hours to a week But not always. One young woman, drugged on a bus joum>-y to the western city of Pasto. died A major dose of scopolamlnc can be fatal Even an average dose can result In death If the drug is Ingested by the cMrriy. diabetics, or people with coronary ailments
Crime aside scopolamine or hyosclnc as it Is also called — Is used by doctors for Ils hypnotic powers. In the treatment of patients. It Is often combined wtlh morphine
But when abused the alkaloid ran cause psychiatric disorders One soldier given a drugged drink now has the menial age of a five year old where before he had been a model soldier
lire borrachero plant Is not exclusive to Colombia, but It seems to be the only country in which scopolamine is used for criminal purposes. GEMINI NEWS
PETER NARES ts a I Mt is h freelance Journal Lit based tn liogota. Colombia. A specialist In the Andean region, he writes on political and economic subjects.