Pharmacological torture

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According to multiple international inquiries, the practice has appeared in different political systems, typically during periods of authoritarian rule, counter-insurgency operations, or widespread censorship, making verification difficult but consistent across historical records.^[5]

Brazil

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.^[6]^[2]

Additional investigations by Brazil’s National Truth Commission found documented cases of chemical restraints, sedatives, and paralytic agents being administered to detainees during the military dictatorship, particularly between 1964 and 1985.^[7]

Iran

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,^[8] by making him take Lithium (medication).^[9] 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.^[10]

Human rights monitors have also reported the use of involuntary psychiatric medication in Iranian prisons, particularly against political detainees, noting that forced administration of antipsychotics has been used as a coercive interrogation strategy.^[11]

Romania

In the 1960s, prisoners were reportedly given drugs to make them talk in their sleep.^[12]

South Africa

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in South Africa.^[13] 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.^[14] The Legal Resources Centre, a non-governmental organization, is representing 13 clients who allege they were forcibly injected with the drugs.^[15]

Soviet Union

Neuropharmacological torture was reported in the USSR.^[13] 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. 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.^[16] Another antipsychotic medication, chlorpromazine (trade name Thorazine), was also used to induce grogginess, sedation, and (in high doses) vegetative states. International psychiatric associations condemned the Soviet Union in multiple resolutions during the 1970s and 1980s, stating that the use of antipsychotics on non-mentally-ill dissidents constituted a systematic form of political punishment.^[17] The World Psychiatric Association briefly suspended the USSR over these practices.

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]}^[18]

United States

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. Declassified documents released in the 2000s further indicated that several U.S. agencies had evaluated the use of sedatives, stimulants, and dissociative drugs as interrogation tools, although such methods were later ruled unlawful under federal statutes and international standards.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[19]^[20]^[21]^[2]

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.^[22]

In 2018, it was reported that the CIA had again considered using a "Truth Serum" on suspected terrorists after the September 11 attacks.^[23]

UK

A few cases of unjustified lobotomy were reported in the UK at the hand of abusive surgeons in the 1970s ^[24] and its virtual banning in the 1980s.^[25] Furthermore, there is evidence that the MI5, a British government agency, has experimented using Truth Drugs.^[26]

Uruguay

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Uruguay.^[13] In Uruguay, people have allegedly been paralyzed using curare derivatives.^[27]^{[page needed]}

Chile

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Chile.^[13]

El Salvador

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in El Salvador.^[13]

Colombia

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Colombia.^[13]

Iraq

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Iraq.^[13]

Israel

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Israel.^[13]

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire.^[13]

Contemporary experts argue that while overt drug-based torture has become less common, forced medication and chemical restraints continue to appear in detention systems worldwide, often hidden within psychiatric or medical frameworks.^[28]