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upupandup | 3 years ago

man I'd be super careful being handed anything in Colombia. Scopolamine is a real danger down there.

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miloignis|3 years ago

Wikipedia has a section on it's use in crime, but suggests that transdermal doses would be too small to be effective - ingesting it being the main attack method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine#Crime

upupandup|3 years ago

what they do is let you get close and blow the powder in your face and that is enough. usually a distraction like they will get you to open a card and doing so it sprays the powder as you get close to inspect it. super scary.

SapporoChris|3 years ago

Any good evidence that it's a danger?

Guardian story writes it off as a scare story without much basis. https://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2015/sep/02/de...

vorpalhex|3 years ago

OSAC issued a warning in 2012, suggesting ~30k cases a year.

From Wikipedia:

> Between 1998 and 2004, 13% of emergency-room admissions for "poisoning with criminal intentions" in a clinic of Bogotá, Colombia, have been attributed to scopolamine, and 44% to benzodiazepines.[39] Most commonly, the person has been poisoned by a robber who gave the victim a scopolamine-laced beverage, in the hope that the victim would become unconscious or unable to effectively resist the robbery.[39]

pelagicAustral|3 years ago

Oh is it? Never heard of that. I was on a pretty nice area of the city for about 3 months, never had a problem. Not a single one. I used to stay around the 85th street and mostly spend my time in Polo, Chico, Castellana, Usaquen, but I was also keen on Chapinero and Candelaria. I felt even safer than at home.