I have done some research on the drug. I find the drug extremely scary. The video in the question was of fairly low quality when it came to science, for shock value it was high quality though.
Digital Journal
That may be why in more recent years, the U.S. State Department issued
a warning telling travelers to beware of "criminals in Colombia using
disabling drugs to temporarily incapacitate tourists and others."
Concerning its disabling properties.
The CIA says: Enthusiastic at this success, House concluded that a
patient under the influence of scopolamine "cannot create a lie"
Because he said the drug ‘will depress the cerebrum to such a degree
as to destroy the power of reasoning’. ... there is no power to think
or reason." His experiment and this conclusion attracted wide
attention, and the idea of a "truth" drug was thus launched upon the
public consciousness.
Consering its use as a truth serum.
The link is fairly dubious as well, I have looked up some of its claims though.
I found a much more secure source about the drug.
CIA historical review program
Early in this century physicians began to employ scopolamine, along
with morphine and chloroform, to induce a state of "twilight sleep"
during childbirth. A constituent of henbane, scopolamine was known to
produce sedation and drowsiness, confusion and disorientation,
incoordination, and amnesia for events experienced during
intoxication. Yet physicians noted that women in twilight sleep
answered questions accurately and often volunteered exceedingly candid
remarks.
Here it makes claims about truth telling part of the drug.
Because of a number of undesirable side effects, scopolamine was
shortly disqualified as a "truth" drug. Among the most disabling of
the side effects are hallucinations, disturbed perception, somnolence,
and physiological phenomena such as headache, rapid heart, and blurred
vision, which distract the subject from the central purpose of the
interview. Furthermore, the physical action is long, far outlasting
the psychological effects.
Here are further claims about that, and why they dismissed it as a truth serum.
It seems little research have been done on the truth telling/zombie state part of the drug, since that time. Main usage of the drug seems to be others in medicine.
US Department of Travel
Use of disabling drugs: The Embassy continues to receive reports of
criminals in Colombia using disabling drugs to temporarily
incapacitate tourists and others. At bars, restaurants, and other
public areas, perpetrators may offer tainted drinks, cigarettes, or
gum. Typically, victims become disoriented or unconscious, and are
thus vulnerable to robbery, sexual assault, and other crimes. Avoid
leaving food or drinks unattended at a bar or restaurant, and be
suspicious if a stranger offers you something to eat or drink. Certain
areas of Bogota are off-limits to U.S. Embassy personnel due to the
prevalence of the use of disabling drugs. See map below for specific
areas that U.S. citizens are encouraged to avoid.
The claims of usage of 'disabling drugs' seems to be true as well.
Robberies of taxi passengers: Robbery of taxi passengers is a serious
problem in Bogota, as well as in Cali and Medellin. Typically, the
driver – who is one of the conspirators – will pick up the passenger
and then stop to pick up two or more armed cohorts, who enter the cab,
overpower the passenger, and take his/her belongings. If the passenger
has an ATM card, the perpetrators may force the passenger to withdraw
money from various ATM locations. Such ordeals can last for hours.
Withdrawal from an ATM seems to be common criminal practice as well in the area. The anecdotal claims made in the video, was that they were like put into zombie state and took out all their money from an ATM.
What truth can be found about the drug is that it induces memory loss, drowsiness and overall make the victim of it offer less resistant. It also seems to work to some extent as making victim tell the truth. I didn't manage to find any real proofs of turning into "zombie"
If I am allowed to do some speculations, I think the video over hypes the drug and the drugs effect have been hyperbolic over-exaggerated. The drug seems to give heavy memory loss, some level of truth telling, and overall weaken the victim physically.
Criminals probably use it more for weakening the victim, and because of the memory loss than actually turning them into zombies that listen to everything they say. With a bit of force, and time, they can probably get their will anyways, and since the victim doesn't remember anything, it's hard for him to tell if he put up resistance or went with their will because he was forced to.
I have no proof of it, but I am very dubious about the claims of turning people into 'zombies'.
