Pharmacological torture

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In Brazil, pharmacological torture involved the injection of alcohol into the tongue in the 1940s, the injection of ether into the scrotum in the 1960s, and drugs were used to cause strong contractions in the 1970s. Also, muscle relaxants were used to minimize muscular rigidity and bone fractures caused by electric shock in the 1970s.{{sfn|Rejali|2009|p=309}}

Amir Mirza Hekmati accused Iran of torturing him with forced drug withdrawal sometime during his captivity between 2011 and 2016 for being an alleged CIA agent,[http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/politics/amir-hekmati-sues-iran-alleged-torture/ Former Marine Amir Hekmati sues Iran for alleged torture] CNN, May 11, 2016 by making him take Lithium (medication).{{Cite web |last=Warikoo |first=Niraj |title=Flint's Amir Hekmati files lawsuit detailing torture in Iran |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/05/11/amir-hekmati-flint-sues-irans-government-saying-he-tortured/84230672/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Detroit Free Press |language=en-US}} Furthermore, Kianush Sanjari indicated he was injected with haloperidol at Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital without diagnosis in 2019. Author Hengameh Shahidi also reports similar stories at Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital where she was forcibly injected with haloperidol while resisting.{{Cite web |title=Haloperidol: Antipsychotic Medication Used Frequently in Iranian Prisons |url=https://iranwire.com/en/features/67428/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=iranwire.com |language=en}}

In the 1960s, prisoners were reportedly given drugs to make them talk in their sleep.{{sfn|Rejali|2009|p=396}}

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in South Africa. In 2013, leaked video footage shot inside South Africa's Mangaung Prison showed a prisoner with no record of mental illness being forcibly injected, apparently with anti-psychotic drugs.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-24694214 | title= 'Shocking' abuse claims at South Africa's Mangaung prison | date= 2013-10-28 | accessdate = 2015-12-01 |work= BBC}} The Legal Resources Centre, a non-governmental organization, is representing 13 clients who allege they were forcibly injected with the drugs.{{cite web | url=http://www.lrc.org.za/lrc-in-the-news/3657-tortured-mangaung-prisoners-seek-justice | title= Tortured Mangaung prisoners seek justice | date= 2015-11-27 | accessdate = 2015-12-01 |work= Legal Resources Centre}}

Neuropharmacological torture was reported in the USSR. In the former Soviet Union, drugs were advised to be used as a form of punishment under the guise of "helping" in psychiatric institutions and most likely whenever it fit. Haloperidol, an antipsychotic medication, was a preferred agent. Furthermore, patients were illuded to believe that their torturous state was of their own making. Sluggish schizophrenia It was used to induce intense restlessness, Parkinson's-type symptoms and overwhelming apathy which rendered the subjects unfit for public presentation in the process.{{Cite book |ASIN=B08L41J3DC |author=Peter Lehmann}} Another antipsychotic medication, chlorpromazine (trade name Thorazine), was also used to induce grogginess, sedation, and (in high doses) vegetative states. Other alleged uses of pharmacological torture included:

• Use of insulin shock therapy to render people comatose.
• Administering Sulfazin to induce severe fevers.
• Use of sodium amobarbital with LSD to cause loss of inhibition.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In the United States, in a series of hearings in the fall and winter of 1977, Congressional committees drew forth disclosure of project MKULTRA, which was most active between 1953 and 1966 and conducted experiments that included the CIA agents administering LSD and "Truth Serum" (most commonly sodium thiopental) to soldiers, citizens, and foreign nationals without their knowledge or consent. Activities of MKULTRA resulted in at least one death, that of Frank Olson, an army scientist who was given LSD without his knowledge, and committed suicide as a result of his experience.John M. Crewdson and Jo Thomas for the New York Times. September 20, 1977. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A02EEDA1E3FE334BC4851DFBF66838C669EDE Abuses in Testing Of Drugs by C.I.A. To Be Panel Focus; Senate Panel to Focus on C.I.A. Actions]{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/jun/22/cia-torture-is-only-part-of-medical-sciences-dark-modern-history|title=CIA torture is only part of medical science's dark modern history|date=June 22, 2015|website=the Guardian}}Joint Hearing Before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources. United States Senate, Ninety-Fifth Congress, First Session August 3, 1977 [https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf Project MKULTRA, The CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification.]

In 1953 Harold Blauer died in a New York State psychiatric institute after doctors there administered 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine derivatives to him without his consent, as part of a 1950s secret program run by the US army that tested chemical warfare agents on US citizens.Associated Press in the Los Angeles Times. May 6, 1987 [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-06-mn-2486-story.html $700,000 Awarded to Estate of Army Drug Test Victim]

In 2018, it was reported that the CIA had again considered using a "Truth Serum" on suspected terrorists after the September 11 attacks.{{Cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Eli |date=13 November 2018 |title=CIA Explored Using "Truth-Serum" on Terror Detainees After Newly Released Report Shows |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/14/cia-explored-using-truth-serum-terror-detainees-after-newly-released-report-shows/ |access-date=15 February 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post}}

File:Pentothal_vintage_package_-_truth_serum.jpg

A few cases of unjustified lobotomy were reported in the UK at the hand of abusive surgeons in the 1970s {{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/nov/27/experience-i-had-a-lobotomy|title=Experience: I had a lobotomy|first=Derek|last=Hutchinson|date=November 27, 2020|website=the Guardian}} and its virtual banning in the 1980s.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-55854145|title=Lobotomy: The brain op described as 'easier than curing a toothache'|work=BBC News |date=January 30, 2021}} Furthermore, there is evidence that the British, MI5, has experimented using Truth Drugs.{{Cite journal |last=Lomas |first=Dan |date=2018-05-30 |title=The drugs don't work: intelligence, torture and the London Cage, 1940–8 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2018.1478629 |journal=Intelligence and National Security |volume=33 |issue=6 |language=en |pages=918–929 |doi=10.1080/02684527.2018.1478629 |s2cid=158324252 |issn=0268-4527}}

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Uruguay. In Uruguay, people have allegedly been paralyzed using curare derivatives.{{sfn|Rejali|2009}}{{page needed|date=January 2015}}

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Chile.

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in El Salvador.

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Colombia.

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Iraq.

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Israel.

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire.{{Cite web|url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problem/pharmacological-torture|title=Pharmacological torture | The Encyclopedia of World Problems}}

• Medical torture
• Patient abuse
• Political abuse of psychiatry
• Truth serum
• Unethical human experimentation
• Use of torture since 1948

• {{cite book|author=Darius Rejali|title=Torture and Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8GtJY_J00C&pg=PA390|date=8 June 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-3087-9|pages=390–|ref={{harvid|Rejali|2009}}}}

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{{Medical harm}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pharmacological Torture}}

Category:Torture

Category:Political repression

Category:Psychiatry controversies

Category:Ethics in psychiatry