Midazolam as a Non-Lethal Weapon
Did you know that, in some jurisdictions, police can inject midazolam (better known as Versed) into suspects to subdue them?
“There is no research guideline. There is no validated protocol for this. There’s not even a clear set of indications for when this is to be used except when people are agitated. By saying that it’s done by the emergency medical personnel, they basically are trying to have it both ways. That is, they’re trying to use a medical protocol that is not validated, not for a police function, arrest and detention,” Miles said.
“The decision to administer Versed is based purely on a paramedic decision, not a police decision,” Slovis said.
It’s up to the officer to call an ambulance and determine if a person is in a condition called excited delirium.
“I don’t know if I would use the word diagnosing, but they are assessing the situation and saying, ‘This person is not acting rationally. This is something I’ve been trained to recognize, this seems like excited delirium.’ I don’t view delirium in the field as a police function. It is a medical emergency. We’re giving the drug Versed that’s routinely used in thousands of health care settings across the country in the field by trained paramedics. I view what we’re doing as the best possible medical practice to a medical emergency,” Slovis said.
The biggest side effect is amnesia, which makes it harder for any defendant to defend himself in court.