I think its use has been replaced by something else by now in most parts of the world, but why do they choose the drugs they choose for “truth serum” purposes?
(The results of a narco test aren’t admissible in court)
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The idea is that sodium pentothal *supposedly* makes it difficult for you to lie. It is a barbituate, which suppresses the part of the brain responsible for higher level thinking and inhibition. In theory this would make it more difficult to lie.
> I think its use has been replaced by something else by now in most parts of the world, but why do they choose the drugs they choose for “truth serum” purposes?
The answer to this question is, no, it has not been replaced. It has been *discarded.* Like you say, even in countries that still use it, it’s often not admissible in court. In reality, ***no drug has ever been scientifically proven to aid in forcing somebody to tell the truth.*** There have been studies involving these drugs, but there are doubts about whether they are sufficiently free of bias or noise to use as genuine evidence. Another problem with this drug and others like it is while it may, or again, may not, aid in getting a suspect to talk, it also very well make it easy for interrogators to mess with people’s heads and implant or fabricate memories, which makes it potentially subject to prosecutorial abuse. If you want a truth serum, you need one which is:
1. safe
2. effective at getting the truth from suspects
3. resistant to tampering by interrogators, and
4. ethical
We don’t have anything which has been scientifically shown to meet the requirements of 2 and 3, and it’s doubtful that any kind of truth serum satisfies requirement 4, at least if the right to not incriminate yourself is part of your country’s legal doctrine.
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