You never did the Kenosha Kid?

[ruudsaurins at aol.com]

Hoy! Hoy!
        A commonly employed medication named midazolam will sedate an individual, but allow them to converse freely under a light degree of sedation, but have profound amnesia of the time under sedation.  Giving more of the medication will reliably induce an unconscious state.  What is unreliable is that if an individual is "willfully" trying to maintain a deception, that under the influence of the midazolam, he may or may not be "able" to maintain the deception, prior to losing consciousness.   I am unaware of midazolam being employed as a "truth serum", but I have no doubt whatsoever that it has been tried.  The same holds true for other medications that are much newer that sodium amytal, but that have similar pharmacodynamic (there's a juicy whirred fur y'all) characteristics.  I have read allegations of the use of slowly titrated muscle relaxants, which gradually paralyze the ability to breathe and thereby elicit a sense of panic and impending doom, also being used to elicit confessions ( as per "truth serum").  Better living thru chemistry!
                                                               truly, 
                                                               ruud
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Rcfchess at aol.com
To: strongbool at gmail.com; pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 14:03:49 EDT
Subject: Re: You never did the Kenosha Kid?


Maybe I'm missing something here, but how does that "debunk" the "mythos"? Seems to me that if anything it confirms it...?! According to Kelberetc., the drug not only "extracted" the truth (as well as the tooth; sorry about that) but he didn't even remember the experience; isn't that what the "mythos" says...?
RF
 
In a message dated 09/02/2005 12:57:42 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, strongbool at gmail.com writes:
Well maybe you're just one of these weak-minded sorts...you know, the type that is also susceptible to hypnosis or organized religion?

Personally I hate to see the mythos surrounding Sodium Amytol debunked...it really is a handy plot device.  


On 9/2/05, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote: 
Years ago, after graduating from college, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. The dentist gave me an injection of what he called "truth serum," which I assumed  to be sodium pentathol.  He gave me the injection and I asked him how long it would take and he told me it had already happened.  I thought he was kidding, until I noticed my mouth was stuffed full of bloody cotton.  There was absolutely no sensation of grogginess or falling asleep.  From my point of view it had been instantaneous.  But the dentist knew all about my career goals, concerns, etc.  Apparently I had discussed the whole thing very coherently while I was under.  I don't know whether it was prompted by questions from the dentist, or if I was just spilling my guts.  My guess is that the drug I got was similar, if not identical to what Slothrop got.  It doesn't necessarily mean that my experience of instantaneousness is typical or that Pynchon was familiar with this type of experience.






 
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