Narcoanalysis

The use of drugs (“truth serums”) in interrogations.

In the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Indian police interrogators told The Times of London they were planning to employ narcoanalysis to ascertain whether the sole terrorist who was captured alive (the “baby-faced gunman”) was Pakistani. (The much-disputed nationality of the terrorists had significant ramifications for Indo-Pakistani relations.)

Naturally, the use of narcoanalysis is controversial because of the physical risks to the suspect and the questionable quality of its results. The C.I.A. haspublished online a detailed analysis of this interrogation technique by George Bimmerle, who stated:

The notion of drugs capable of illuminating hidden recesses of the mind, helping to heal the mentally ill and preventing or reversing the miscarriage of justice, has provided an exceedingly durable theme for the press and popular literature.

While acknowledging that “truth serum” is a misnomer twice over – the drugs are not sera and they do not necessarily bring forth probative truth – journalistic accounts continue to exploit the appeal of the term. The formula is to play up a few spectacular “truth” drug successes and to imply that the drugs are more maligned than need be and more widely employed in criminal investigation than can officially be admitted.