Truth serum - does is it really exist?

Is there anything that can be reliably given to a person to make them talk openly and honestly? Obviously, this question has had immense importance to governments all over the world. Interrogators would love to be able to give something to a person to induce them to reveal valuable information.

So what, if anything, can be used to convince a person to reveal their dark and dirty secrets? Well over the last 100 years, lots of chemicals and compounds have been tested and used to varying degrees of success. Obviously for men, seduction and pillow talk is a very easy way to make a gent spill the beans (in more ways than one!). But this post is more about truth potions that have been used!!

One of the oldest known truth serums are barbiturates. Barbiturates, such as pentobarbitone and thiopentone, have been used by doctors for many years, for general anaesthesia during surgery. During the 20th century world wars, doctors used a lot of these drugs to treat injured soldiers. The doctors discovered that barbiturates had an ability to make the patients recollect and reveal their personal secrets. It was even used to help treat shell-shocked soldiers to relive and open up after suffering from memory loss (amnesia).

The problem they found with barbiturates was that they could make the person fall asleep and so stop talking (bit like talking to your partner in bed!). If they didn't give enough drug, the people became inhibited and unlikely to talk. So using them was a balancing act.

Scientists then found that they could add amphetamines (e.g. speed) to the barbiturates and have better results. Anyone who has tried amphetamines is aware that it induces a fast and unstoppable urge to talk (in addition to making you dance like there are ants in your pants). This with the barbiturates' effect of losing the tendency of self-censorship, seemed like a winning combination. Hypnosis was also added to the mix especially, in hostile interrogations, to create the illusion of the questioner being a friend or family member. The drugs though did not seem to work in every person!

Another drug used which seems more successful (working in 50-75% of people) is marijuana. Pot smokers will know that the drug can make them very chatty and more than willing to disclose personal information. Besides the obvious problems of people sometimes getting dizzy, sleepy and even vomiting; spliff tends to make the conversation very one-sided and every statement becomes very funny to the user!! To minimise the side effects, the most effective way to give the drug and elicit conversation is by inhalation. Often spies, spiked cigarettes with cannabis and gave them to their targets.

Other drugs have also been used but with unfavourable results. The problems with all the truth potions (cannabis, barbiturates etc) are that although they can drive hidden memories and secrets out of a person, they also reveal fantasies. So the information that the person is revealing may be just their vivid imagination making it unreliable!

So despite lots of research and studies, the most effective drugs at getting the truth out of people have still proven to be marijuana, with good old alcohol a close second. The only problem is the listener is not sure whether you actually saw the neighbour naked (making you a peeping tom) or wanted to (making you a pervert)!!

Remember for your next operation, if your doctor starts to look at you in a funny way, you may have opened up more than you wanted to - revealing the inner sanctum of your mind!

This article is taken from http://awesomereality.blogspot.com