4 ms·

The Swindled Samaritan

35 points by wallflower 11y ago

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
mjevans 11y ago
The stuff that happened to this guy makes the precautions that 'mad eye moody' in Harry Potter took seem sensible. Never accepting /anything/ from strangers and distrusting absolutely everybody... It really makes me want to have a stronger social safety net. Designated, on the job, monitored for safety, public service workers who ensure basic aid and dignity is offered to all. It would be nice if this is what a 'peace force' did.
sleazebreeze 11y ago
I'm not trying to cast any doubt on this author's story, but Snopes regards this particular drug story as "False" [1]. This seems too crazy to be 100% true. Could it be that nobody knows how this drug really works? According to Wikipedia, NASA is using this drug as a counter to motion sickness [2]. What's even more strange is that the credited author of the story is not the actual author. At the end it says it was told to Daniel Krieger, who ostensibly wrote the article. Something doesn't smell right about this whole thing. [1] http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp [2] http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38893 http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38893
- gilleain 11y ago
  The part of the story that Snopes marks false is its use in the US : > 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. On the other hand, it still sounds fairly unlikely as a story.
  - jzone3 11y ago
    Wired reported on it in 2011. Seems like a real thing. http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/start/mind-controller http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/start/mind-c...
    - david-given 11y ago
      It's not much of a report. No references, no names and dates, packed full of appeals to authority, and appallingly vague. It sounds like something someone knocked together in 30 minutes after reading some urban legends, TBH. I'd have thought that if this were a real thing, it'd be way better known - the psychiatric industry would be committing minor flesh wound to get their hands on it, for example. A drug that can suppress free will while leaving the patient conscious and responsive could revolutionise therapy.
      - damienkatz 11y ago
        For therapeutic use the drug has to work reliably and predictably. For criminal use it only has to work sometimes. Though I agree the whole thing sounds made up.
  - joesmo 11y ago
    Here's an interesting investigation by Vice, although they don't actually end up using scopolamine themselves: https://www.vice.com/video/colombian-devil-s-breath-1-of-2 https://www.vice.com/video/colombian-devil-s-breath-1-of-2
ptaipale 11y ago
This story sounded like one where to google for "burundanga" at snopes.com seems the appropriate action. http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp NYT actually thinks it's true? Edit: sleazebreeze had same thoughts a couple of minutes earlier.
- bm1362 11y ago
  At the end of the day, it's very clear this is a story from a young woman as relayed to the author. NYT isn't making any kind of claim otherwise. Additionally, the snopes article cites the State Department giving warnings about the drug in Colombia, Thailand - snopes only doubts it's prevalence in the US.
  - gus_massa 11y ago
    I have been receiving similar emails with warning in Argentina from years. The story is similar with very few details, and from country to country the usual variation is the name of the shopping mall were the events allegedly happened. A few month ago the newspapers in Argentina begun to report some cases, but without any study that confirm the cases. See for example: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1738748-burundanga-la-droga-que-asusta-a-todos-pero-que-aun-nadie-vio http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1738748-burundanga-la-droga-que-a... (autotraslation: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lanacion.com.ar%2F1738748-burundanga-la-droga-que-asusta-a-todos-pero-que-aun-nadie-vio&edit-text=&act=url https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev... ) I still classify this as a hoax. On a related note, one problem with Wikipedia is that it assumes that the newspapers do some fact checking so they can be used as references, but they sometimes publish stories without any proofs like in this case.
    - ptaipale 11y ago
      > On a related note, one problem with Wikipedia is that it assumes that the newspapers do some fact checking so they can be used as references And not just Wikipedia, of course. Others have the same problem. <rant> People generally tend to trust their preferred sources too much. This seems to be worse in social media, where people have even less exposure to views that are different from their own. </rant>

35 points by wallflower 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

The stuff that happened to this guy makes the precautions that 'mad eye moody' in Harry Potter took seem sensible. Never accepting /anything/ from strangers and distrusting absolutely everybody... It really makes me want to have a stronger social safety net. Designated, on the job, monitored for safety, public service workers who ensure basic aid and dignity is offered to all. It would be nice if this is what a 'peace force' did.

sleazebreeze 11y ago

I'm not trying to cast any doubt on this author's story, but Snopes regards this particular drug story as "False" [1]. This seems too crazy to be 100% true. Could it be that nobody knows how this drug really works? According to Wikipedia, NASA is using this drug as a counter to motion sickness [2]. What's even more strange is that the credited author of the story is not the actual author. At the end it says it was told to Daniel Krieger, who ostensibly wrote the article. Something doesn't smell right about this whole thing. [1] http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp [2] http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38893 http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=38893

gilleain 11y ago
The part of the story that Snopes marks false is its use in the US : > 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. On the other hand, it still sounds fairly unlikely as a story.
- jzone3 11y ago
  Wired reported on it in 2011. Seems like a real thing. http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/start/mind-controller http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/start/mind-c...
  - david-given 11y ago
    It's not much of a report. No references, no names and dates, packed full of appeals to authority, and appallingly vague. It sounds like something someone knocked together in 30 minutes after reading some urban legends, TBH. I'd have thought that if this were a real thing, it'd be way better known - the psychiatric industry would be committing minor flesh wound to get their hands on it, for example. A drug that can suppress free will while leaving the patient conscious and responsive could revolutionise therapy.
    - damienkatz 11y ago
      For therapeutic use the drug has to work reliably and predictably. For criminal use it only has to work sometimes. Though I agree the whole thing sounds made up.
- joesmo 11y ago
  Here's an interesting investigation by Vice, although they don't actually end up using scopolamine themselves: https://www.vice.com/video/colombian-devil-s-breath-1-of-2 https://www.vice.com/video/colombian-devil-s-breath-1-of-2

ptaipale 11y ago

This story sounded like one where to google for "burundanga" at snopes.com seems the appropriate action. http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/burundanga.asp NYT actually thinks it's true? Edit: sleazebreeze had same thoughts a couple of minutes earlier.

bm1362 11y ago
At the end of the day, it's very clear this is a story from a young woman as relayed to the author. NYT isn't making any kind of claim otherwise. Additionally, the snopes article cites the State Department giving warnings about the drug in Colombia, Thailand - snopes only doubts it's prevalence in the US.
- gus_massa 11y ago
  I have been receiving similar emails with warning in Argentina from years. The story is similar with very few details, and from country to country the usual variation is the name of the shopping mall were the events allegedly happened. A few month ago the newspapers in Argentina begun to report some cases, but without any study that confirm the cases. See for example: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1738748-burundanga-la-droga-que-asusta-a-todos-pero-que-aun-nadie-vio http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1738748-burundanga-la-droga-que-a... (autotraslation: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lanacion.com.ar%2F1738748-burundanga-la-droga-que-asusta-a-todos-pero-que-aun-nadie-vio&edit-text=&act=url https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev... ) I still classify this as a hoax. On a related note, one problem with Wikipedia is that it assumes that the newspapers do some fact checking so they can be used as references, but they sometimes publish stories without any proofs like in this case.
  - ptaipale 11y ago
    > On a related note, one problem with Wikipedia is that it assumes that the newspapers do some fact checking so they can be used as references And not just Wikipedia, of course. Others have the same problem. <rant> People generally tend to trust their preferred sources too much. This seems to be worse in social media, where people have even less exposure to views that are different from their own. </rant>