so repeated recreational use is rare. in june 2008, more than 20 people were hospitalized with psychosis in norway after ingesting counterfeit rohypnol tablets containing scopolamine. in january 2018, 9 individuals were hospitalized in perth, western australia, after reportedly ingesting scopolamine. however, the alkaloid scopolamine, when taken recreationally for its psychoactive effect is usually taken in the form of preparations from plants of the genera datura or brugmansia, often by adolescents or young adults in order to achieve hallucinations and an altered state of consciousness induced by muscarinic antagonism. in circumstances such as these, the intoxication is usually built on a synergistic, but even more toxic mixture of the additional alkaloids in the plants which includes atropine and hyoscyamine. historically, the various plants that produce scopolamine have been used psychoactively for spiritual and magical purposes, particularly by witches in western culture and indigenous groups throughout the americas such as native american tribes like the chumash. when entheogenic preparations of these plants were used, scopolamine was considered to be the main psychoactive compound and was largely responsible for the hallucinogenic effects, particularly when the preparation was made into a topical ointment (most notably flying ointment). scopolamine is reported to be the only active alkaloid within these plants that can effectively be absorbed through the skin to cause effects. different recipes for these ointments were explored in european witchcraft at least as far back as the early modern period and included multiple ingredients to help with the transdermal absorption of scopolamine (such as animal fat), as well as other possible ingredients to counteract its noxious and dysphoric effects. in christianity, although not explicitly designated for ritualistic or spiritual use; in the bible there are multiple mentions of mandrake which is a psychoactive and hallucinogenic plant root that contains scopolamine. it was associated with fertility power and (sexual) desire where it was yearned for by rachel, who apparently was "barren" (infertile) but trying to conceive. interrogation the effects of scopolamine were studied for use as a truth serum in interrogations in the early 20th century, but because of the side effects, investigations were dropped. in 2009, the czechoslovak state security secret police were proven to have used scopolamine at least three times to obtain confessions from alleged antistate dissidents. crime in colombia a travel advisory published by the us overseas security advisory council (osac) in 2012 stated: one common and particularly dangerous method that criminals use in order to rob a victim is through the use of drugs. the most common has been scopolamine. unofficial estimates put the number of annual scopolamine incidents in colombia at approximately 50,000. scopolamine can render a victim unconscious for 24 hours or more. in large doses, it can cause respiratory failure and death. it is most often administered in liquid or powder form in foods and beverages. the majority of these incidents occur in night clubs and bars, and usually men, perceived to be wealthy, are targeted by young, attractive women. it is recommended that, to avoid becoming a victim of scopolamine, a person should never accept food or beverages offered by strangers or new acquaintances, nor leave food or beverages unattended in their presence. victims of scopolamine or other drugs should seek immediate medical attention. 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. 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. beside robberies, it is also allegedly involved in express kidnappings and sexual assault. the hospital clínic in barcelona introduced a protocol in 2008 to help medical workers identify cases, while madrid hospitals adopted a similar working document in february 2015. hospital clínic has found little scientific evidence to support this use and relies on the victims' stories to reach any conclusion. although poisoning by scopolamine appears quite often in the media as an aid for raping, kidnapping, killing, or robbery, the effects of this drug and the way it is applied by criminals (transdermal injection, on playing cards and papers, etc.) are often exaggerated, especially skin exposure, as the dose that can be absorbed by the skin is too low to have any effect. scopolamine transdermal patches must be used for hours to days. there are certain other aspects of the usage of scopolamine in crimes. powdered scopolamine is referred to as "devil's breath". in popular media and television, it is portrayed as a method to brainwash or control people into being defrauded by their attackers; there is debate whether these claims are true. it is not verified if the powdered form is capable of inducing a suggestive state. the danger is real enough that in addition to the overseas security advisory council (osac) in 2012, the us department of state, as well as the government of canada, published travel advisories warning travelers about the possibility of targeting. criminals using devil's breath often use attractive, young women to target men that they believe are wealthy. nevertheless, the drug is known to produce loss of memory following exposure and sleepiness, similar to the effect of benzodiazepines or alcohol poisoning. research memory & disease scopolamine is used as a research tool to study memory encoding. initially, in human trials, relatively low doses of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine were found to induce temporary cognitive defects. since then, scopolamine has become a standard drug for experimentally inducing cognitive defects in animals. results in primates suggest that acetylcholine is involved in the encoding of new information into long-term memory. scopolamine has also been shown to exert a greater impairment on episodic memory, event-related potentials, memory retention and free recall compared to dph (an anticholinergic and antihistamine). scopolamine produces detrimental effects on short-term memory, memory acquisition, learning, visual recognition memory, visuospatial praxis, visuospatial memory, visuoperceptual function, verbal recall, and psychomotor speed. it does not seem to impair recognition and memory retrieval, though. acetylcholine projections in hippocampal neurons, which are vital in mediating long-term potentiation, are inhibited by scopolamine. scopolamine also inhibits cholinergic-mediated glutamate release in hippocampal neurons, which assist in depolarization, potentiation of action potential, and synaptic suppression. scopolamine's effects on acetylcholine and glutamate release in the hippocampus favor retrieval-dominant cognitive functioning. scopolamine has been used to model the defects in cholinergic function for models of alzheimer's, dementia, fragile x syndrome, and down syndrome. psychoplastogen & antidepressant scopolamine has been identified as a psychoplastogen, which refers to a compound capable of promoting rapid and sustained neuroplasticity in a single dose. it has been, and continues to be investigated as a rapid-onset antidepressant, with a number of small studies finding positive results, particularly in female subjects. motion sickness (with stimulants) scopolamine has been studied extensively for treatment of motion sickness, including atypical forms such as sopite syndrome. in 2012, nasa agreed to develop a nasal administration method. with a precise dosage, the nasa spray formulation has been shown to work faster and more reliably than the oral form to treat motion sickness. although certain pharmacological agents such as stimulant drugs could pose theoretical contraindications due to their possible physiological potentiation or synergism in regards to cardiovascular stress when paired with scopolamine, stimulants in combination with scopolamine have still been safely studied and even shown effective for combating symptoms of severe motion sickness. the combination of scopolamine and d-amphetamine is reportedly the most effective in preventing the symptoms of severe motion sickness, but due to the abuse potential of amphetamine; it is not usually included or suggested in the medical literature. a 2016 study published in the journal of cns neuroscience & therapeutics tested scopolamine at different doses in combination with d-amphetamine, modafinil, and caffeine for motion sickness. the study found similar efficacy between modafinil and d—amphetamine at the proper dose levels, but modafinil had a greater effect on reducing the anxiety from scopolamine. they concluded that the optimal dose ratio of scopolamine and modafinil is 1:10 (in regards to milligrams per kilogram). this same study also tested the efficacy between scopolamine, diphenhydramine, and granisetron and found scopolamine to be the most effective. psychoactivity (hallucinogenic effects) although a fair amount of research has been applied to scopolamine in the field of medicine (mainly in low doses for nausea), its hallucinogenic (psychoactive) effects as well as the psychoactive effects of other antimuscarinic deliriants hasn't been extensively researched or as well understood compared to other types of hallucinogens such as psychedelic and disassociative compounds, despite the alkaloid's long history of usage in mind-altering plant preparations.