Truth serum  

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A truth drug (or truth serum) is a drug used for the purposes of obtaining "the truth," accurate information from an unwilling subject, most often by a police, intelligence, or military organization on a prisoner. Effective truth drugs are mostly fictional, though some drugs have been shown to be effective in lowering the resistance of an interrogated person.

In Kill Bill Volume 2, Bill shoots 'The Bride' with a tranquilizer filled with a truth serum he developed himself in order to get truthful answers from the bride.

In pop culture

During Meet the Fockers there is an explicit comical usage of sodium pentothal in which Greg Focker is injected with a "high concentrated amount" of it thinking he would tell the truth about what he thought was his son. The movie Johnny English also features a comic scene wherein the titular character mistakenly injects an armed security guard with sodium pentothal, believing it to be a muscle relaxant. In the comedy film Jumping Jack Flash, James Belushi gives Whoopi Goldberg some truth serum to find the whereabouts of her spy friend.

Truth drugs have been featured in serious films for several decades. A recent appearance was in Kill Bill: Volume 2, in which Bill shoots the Bride with a homemade truth serum. In the film True Lies, the main character, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is given a truth serum to tell his wife about his life. In the film Rise of the Foot Soldier truth serum is administered by heroin dealers during interrogation to determine if any of Carlton Leach's crew had stolen the £10 million heroin shipment that had gone missing.

Television shows have also used truth serum as a plot device. In the pilot episode of Two Guys and a Girl, Berg (Ryan Reynolds) purposely overdoses on an inhaler that contains "sodium penothane" which he refers to as "truth serum." He then proceeds to only tell the truth about everything. In an episode of Twin Peaks, Garland Briggs is administered Haloperidol as a truth serum. Haloperidol is not typically used for this purpose and the portrayal of its effects on the show is somewhat suspect.Template:Fact In the Smallville episode "Truth", Chloe Sullivan accidentally inhales a kryptonite gas that acts as a truth serum to anyone who comes in contact with her. In the 2004 "Salem Stalker" storyline on Days of our Lives, Marlena Evans was given Sodium Pentothal in order to remember and confess to the murders she was accused of committing. After the effects of the drugs wore off and she had delivered a full confession, she did not remember anything of the process. Truth serum was also used several times on the soap opera All My Children, by the character Dr. David Hayward. In the television series Perry Mason, The Case Of The Demure Defendant, Mason's client was given truth serum by her psychiatrist. Mason's client ended up confessing to a murder that she did not commit. Sodium pentathol is also used regularly as an interrogation agent on 24.

Truth drugs have also appeared in games and literature. The computer game, KGB (Conspiracy), requires the main character to use a lethal truth drug on a Leningrad KGB officer to obtain information. Chapkin explains that the drug is "improved sodium pentothal. Very effective, but lethal." In the book Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, Artemis tells his captive that he gave her sodium pentathol, so that she would reveal her secrets. In one moment of the Playstation game Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake's commanding officer, Colonel Roy Campbell, complains that he does not have any sodium pentothal to interrogate Naomi Hunter.

In the Harry Potter series of novels and films, Veritaserum is a truth drug that forces the drinker to tell the truth after ingestion of just three drops.

In the 2006 children's spy film Stormbreaker, an MI6 agent (played by Stephen Fry) gives a range of gadgets to the young hero, including a fountain pen filled with sodium pentathol, explaining that, "whoever you inject it with will do exactly as you tell them for six hours."

In the 2002 film Red Dragon, a note from serial killer, the Tooth Fairy, is found in Dr. Hannibal Lecter's cell, with a portion of the note missing. The FBI suggests “sweating” Lecter at which point, investigator Will Graham replies "No, we tried sodium amatol on him three years ago to find where he buried a Princeton student; he gave them a recipe for dip."

"Truth Serum" is the title of the indie comic by Jon Adams.

In the TV series 'Knight Rider' episode, 'A Hard Day's Knight', Mike is poisoned. One of the ingredients of the poison being Hydrazine, which (according to the show) has the effect of a truth serum.

The Tintin book Flight 714 depicts a defective truth serum for comical effect in which the involved characters end up over-emphasizing their lies more and more.

In the film Kiss me Deadly Sodium Pentathol is applied to make the protagonist reveal the location of the great whats-it.

In the 2004 film Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Bill shoots a dart containing an unnamed truth serum, which he claims to be more powerful than Sodium Pentathol.

In the anime Case Closed (Detective Conan), Ethan Hondou gave his daughter, Hidemi Hondou, a little bit of truth surem during episode 500 to have the Black Organization believe her.

In the Hong Kong film House of Fury, the father is given sodium pentothal in order to collect information.



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Truth serum" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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