"Truth serum" is a colloquial name for any of a range of psychoactive drugs used in an effort to obtain information from subjects who are unable or unwilling to provide it otherwise. These include ethanol, scopolamine, 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, midazolam, flunitrazepam, sodium thiopental, and amobarbital, among others.
Although a variety of such substances have been tested, serious issues have been raised about their use scientifically, ethically and legally. There is currently no drug proven to cause consistent or predictable enhancement of truth-telling.[1] Subjects questioned under the influence of such substances have been found to be suggestible and their memories subject to reconstruction and fabrication. When such drugs have been used in the course of investigating civil and criminal cases, they have not been accepted by Western legal systems and legal experts as genuine investigative tools.[2] In the United States, it has been suggested that their use is a potential violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (the right to remain silent).[3][4] Concerns have also been raised through the European Court of Human Rights arguing that use of a truth serum could be considered a violation of a human right to be free from degrading treatment,[5] or could be considered a form of torture.[6] It has been noted to be a violation of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture.[7]
"Truth serum" was previously used in the management of psychotic patients in the practice of psychiatry.[8] In a therapeutic context, the controlled administration of intravenous hypnotic medications is called "narcosynthesis" or "narcoanalysis". Such application was first documented by Dr. William Bleckwenn. Reliability and suggestibility of patients are concerns, and the practice of chemically inducing an involuntary mental state is now widely considered to be a form of torture.[9][10]
- ^ Brown, David (20 November 2006). "Some Believe 'Truth Serums' Will Come Back". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Rindewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
guardian.co.ukwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Annotation 9 - Fifth Amendment". Find.Law. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Sadoff, David A. (2016). Bringing International Fugitives to Justice Extradition and its Alternatives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 296–297. ISBN 9781107129283. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ Keller, Linda M. (2005). "Is Truth Serum Torture?". Ame Rican University International Law Review. 20 (3): 521–612. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "The Legal Prohibition Against Torture". Human Rights Watch. June 1, 2004.
- ^ Naples M, Hackett TP: The amytal interview: history and current uses. Psychosomatics01 1978; 19: 98–105.
- ^ Tollefson GD: The amobarbital interview in the differential diagnosis of catatonia. Psychosomatics 1982; 23: 437–438.
- ^ Bleckwenn WJ: Production of sleep and rest in psychotic cases. Arch Neurol Psychiatry 1930; 24: 365–375.