Amsterdam - The Trimbos institute of mental health and addiction put out a warning Friday over the use in the Netherlands of cocaine found to have been contaminated. The Trimbos Institute, located in Utrecht in the centre of the Netherlands, is the national knowledge institute for mental health care, addiction care and social work.
Trimbos scientists said they had found atropine in the cocaine they researched after reports from all over the country. One user of cocaine sold in the Netherlands had already died.
Atropine is a tropane alkaloid extracted from the deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna, and other plants of the family Solanaceae.
It serves as a drug with a wide variety of effects. Being potentially deadly, it derives its name from Atropos, one of the three Fates who, according to Greek mythology, chose how a person was to die.
Atropine causes hallucinations, restlessness and reduced consciousness. It can also induce a coma or cause respiratory or heart rythm problems that may result in death.
