Jim_Clemente: Actually, that is an issue I have discussed with the writers many times. It is why we changed the name of the drug we mentioned in Big Sea to Trilimide ( a made up drug). We do not want to give potential offenders any new ideas. Also, the kinds of things we focus on in the show are Behaviors that are intrinsic to that particular person. They are not the kinds of things they can change on a whim. Other shows may do that, but we stay away from forensics on Criminal Minds... Deliberately.

Via Criminal Minds Fanatic Blog

Explains why spending the past 5+ hours Googling and consulting a biomedical friend on 'trilimide' came up with nothing.

A real-life drug which actually fits the bill however is a type of anticholinergic known as scopolamine. Like 'trilimide', the drug's most common use is to allay motion sickness. There are records of scopolamine also being used to reduce parkinsonian tremors, uveitis and iritis (both inflammation of the eye).

Further Google searches cement the fact that the CM writers probably based their fictional 'trilimide' on  Colombia's 'Devil Breath' or burundanga. Burundanga is a street version of scopolamine which became a hot topic of chain e-mail rumors/hoaxes/urban legends a few years back, as duly noted by Snopes and Hoax-slayer. Victims often come in contact with the drug through ingestion or inhalation (when the drug is blown into the face). There are texts (my biomedical friend's textbooks really) which states that the drugs are even well-absorbed in the conjunctival (eye) membrane. Nasal insufflation itself already allows a faster onset of effect as compared to ingestion. Therefore, victims are treated to a double whammy of burundanga absorption. There's a video was made by VBS TV on burundanga :



The zombielike effects of the burundanga is often debatable (as is the problem with exaggeration when it comes to lurid horror urban legends). A consistent thread to victims' accounts is memory loss. Scopolamine is in fact an antagonist for the neurotransmitter acetycholine (Ach). Ach is vital in movement regulation (which explains scopolamine's use in movement disorders) and learning and short-term memory. Thus, inhibiting Ach affects the victim's ability to recall events at the point of drug assimilation into the body system.

Other known side effects of scopolamine are drowsiness (in recommended dosages) and amnesia (in sensitive individuals). At toxic doses, poisoned individuals could exhibit dry mouth, mydriasis (blurred vision), tachycardia, hot and flushed skin, agitation, delirium - as shown in the adage 'dry as a bone, blind as a bat, red as a beet, mad as a hatter'. Severe side effects include confusion, difficulty urinating, fast or irregular heartbeat, hallucinations, disorientation, mood or mental changes, trouble speaking and severe drowsiness. It is easy to see how bystanders might interpret several of these symptoms together as 'zombielike'.

The question remains if scopolamine actually makes one more vulnerable to suggestion. So far, I couldn't find any confirmation how the drug's mechanism of action would cause victims to be more likely to consent to a criminal's commands. After all, Ach inhibition should only affect the storage of new memories. There is still the possibility however that scopolamine affects the brain in other ways other than blocking acetylcholine.

Interestingly, scopolamine has actually been used as a truth serum in the past.