Burundanga Hoax Debunked
Burundanga is a real drug and it has been used to perpetrate different crimes around the world, but especially in South America. When victims are exposed to the drug, it is believed that they can have their minds influenced by organized criminal elements. People say they have awoken days later, have no memory of what has happened, and been used as drug mules or in the local sex trade without any knowledge of the event. Read about such altered state of consciousness and how people are involved in criminal cases on 21clradio to gain insight into similar topics.
In the Burundanga hoax, the story is that there are business cards floating around the world that are coated with the drug. Once you take the business card from someone, the drug enters your bloodstream through the skin and you become susceptible to influence. If the drug is real, then how can these claims be 100% false?
Burundanga Isn’t Effectively Absorbed Through the Skin
Having the drug in liquid form, thinly coating a business card, has two problems: 1) the person handing you the business card would need to be wearing gloves to protect their skin; and 2) burundanga does not absorb through the skin well. This is why medical use of the drug requires the inhalation of a powder or the ingestion of it with food or liquids.
Some of the stories about burundanga being on business cards also say that people have noticed that there was a unique odor that was present. Burundanga, however, is not only colorless and tasteless, but it doesn’t have any odor to it either.
The information itself lends to the idea that this is a hoax, but then there’s the fact that not a single reported crime involving burundanga being distributed via touch has ever been reported to law enforcement officials. All of the information regarding burundanga business cards or other similar objects has been distributed through email or social networking online. No incidents have occurred in Katy, Texas or anywhere else in the world in this version of what is simply an urban legend.
That’s Not to Say That Burundanga Can’t Be Dangerous
If you have ever taken a drug called scopolamine, then you’ve actually taken burundanga. It is sometimes prescribed as a method for treating nausea and vomiting that won’t resolve on its own, especially when not even water can be held down. When this drug is taken in doses that are above prescription strength, it is known to cause hallucinations, coma, and even result in death.
Even if it were possible to put burundanga on a business card and have it transmit through the skin, the dosage would be less than the recommended therapeutic strength unless someone could find a way to concentrate the drug. Most people would be more likely to find that their stomach felt a lot better after a large meal rather than become a drug mule if they were exposed to the drug from business cards.
Although there may be some legitimate concerns about organized criminal activity distributing overdoses of burundanga to people in forms that can be ingested or inhaled on purpose, having it coat business cards or any other object is just a hoax.