The Mickey Finn defense: involuntary intoxication and insanity.
R. L. Goldstein,
Bull. Amer. Acad. Psychiatry & the Law
20(1): 27-31, 1992.
The legal context of voluntary and involuntary intoxication is delineated. The author reports a case
of involuntary intoxication involving scopolamine toxic psychosis or delirium, in which he testified
as a psychiatric expert witness. The specific psychological and physiological symptomatology
produced by scopolamine intoxication is outlined. The forensic psychiatrist should be alert to the
involuntary intoxication defense in these cases and should familiarize himself with the specific
toxicity of scopolamine, in view of the significant increase in the number of incidents in which it is
utilized as "knockout" drops in certain jurisdictions.