Scientific and technological advances become irrevocable traits of the
culture-however drastic the problems of assimilation and adjustment they
engender, and however disturbing the value choices they pose. This is true
not only of major advances like Freud\u27s concept of the role of the unconscious
in human behavior but also of less seminal developments like the druginduced
interview (narcoanalysis),\u27 which has become an implement of
psychiatry and with which we are here concerned. Our goal is to further
understanding of the proper conditions and limitations of its use, and of its
potentialities for abuse. We attempt to appraise narcoanalysis from three
points of view: (1) What is it; (2) Under what conditions, if any, will its
use (voluntary and involuntary) promote the best interests of the community
(which is to say, of all individuals); and (3) How adequate is existing law
to facilitate its appropriate use and discourage its misuse
