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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

Would it have any therapeutic effect for people convicted of violent crimes? Even white collar crimes like embezzlement?

Obviously they’d have to volunteer for something like that but it’d be interesting to see if it changes them for he better or worse...

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I think more conventional entheogens and empathogens like LSD, psilocybin, 2CB and MDMA are far more promising. Bear in mind that violent criminals are highly likely to be mentally ill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Prison_Experiment

That study looks interesting though some question methods. It’d be interesting to have a thorough follow up and see if it tracks closely with the really positive results of the Concord study.

I'd be worried about the state endorsing or experimenting with this, even as a voluntary measure. Coming withing even an AU of normalizing pharmacologically 'correcting' asocial behavior could put us on a very dark path.

For better or worse, we're very much already on this path. We chemically 'corrected' 'asocial' behavior by chemically castrating homosexuals, the most high profile case being Alan Turing in the 1950's. He is believed to have later committed suicide.

Society's views on homosexuality have progressed since then, but there is a bar for being gainfully employed and housed in the US. Unmediated, some mentally ill people are not able to meet that bar. Too asocial to hold down a job and thus too poor to afford housing. Medicated, they are. If the alternative to being medicated and a productive member of society is to be homeless or in prison, aren't we already there?

For those that are able to finding the right medication, it's life-changing. We should be very very cautious about what the state can force people to do, but we should all strive for a society that's better equipped to handle and treat mental illness and the problems that stem from that.

True, but on the other hand, what if it is an option and we're depriving some people of a normal, happy life by not researching and making available a simple medication to regulate e.g. their thresholds for violence, aggression, empathy, self-discipline, motivation or wakefulness?

We have similar ethical concerns with regard to e.g. cochlear implants. We don't force people to have them implanted, but it would seem cruel to not make them available because the availability may, at some point in the future, make them semi-mandatory.

*Looks at SSRI, DRI, and NRI drugs...looks at your comment...confused

It would probably be a bad idea to apply the criminal justice theory from A Clockwork Orange to the real world.

Clockwork orange is exactly what I thought as well.

I think you need to be really careful with that.

Yes, lets experiment on prisoners. That seems morally justified as long as you ask nicely. For real, scientific experimentation has to be done with unbiased groups AND a control group. After getting that out of the way then you can include targeted groups. Which prisoners should never belong to, this is how the criminal psychopath stereotype began. also, every country classifies crime and punishment differently making any observation useless. Their status as criminal might be the same but their pathology is as diverse as you can expect. prisoners might be the most violent group you can find but you're still better off targeting violent people in a population.

Unless you are researching criminals

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