Potions Club: Term XXIV - Activity #1

[ivory88s.livejournal.com]

Activity: Ethics Debate
Points: Long Debate - 10pts initial comment/2pts for each subsequent comment of substance; 30pt max
Deadline: Friday, September 21st - 11:59pm UTC
Details: Potions can be a tricky business with some magnificent results. But should it be monitored and if so, how? The Ministry is considering instituting a control over Veritaserum and we're going to discuss whether or not that's necessary and/or a good idea.


For this particular debate, we'll be discussing Veritaserum use, control, and distribution. Initial comment should be at least 100 words and each subsequent should be of some substance and not just "I agree!", even if you do. Why? Anything else to add?

Some things to consider:
As such a potent and effective potion, does it need to be controlled? At first glance it's fairly innocuous. It can be used in a variety of circumstances for differing reasons. Should it be controlled by the Ministry and, if so, how? Should just anyone be able to make it? And when used by the Ministry, should they just be used whenever interrogating a criminal or only in certain circumstances?

*Note: There WILL be a 24-hour grace period after the activity ends, but please make sure you're on the roster now to save time later! Not sure? Check here. Know you aren't on it? Come join the club here! Purchase any additional bonus items? Let me know here.

Comments

[c-hrista.livejournal.com]

Monitoring Veritaserum at all seems like something that would be incredibly difficult to do, although I agree that it should somehow be done. How do you monitor something that is "clear, colourless, and odourless and is almost indistinguishable from water"?

I wonder about the ingredients of it, also, as they could assist or hinder in the monitoring of the brewing of Veritaserum. For example, if the ingredients needed to make it are rarer, then apothecaries might be able to make ~assumptions about who might be trying to brew it based on what ingredients they're purchasing.

I think it SHOULD be controlled, but figuring out a fool-proof way to do so would be difficult (and tedious) work. Not to mention that Veritaserum isn't necessarily fool-proof, either, as it gauges the user's own truths (subjectively) and not actual objective information.

Christa / Slytherin

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

I wonder about the ingredients of it, also, as they could assist or hinder in the monitoring of the brewing of Veritaserum.

I'm assuming you're talking similar to what is done with Pseudoephedrine in many states? I know locally pharmacists are required by law to keep track of personal information of those purchasing it because of it's use in making methamphetamine, as well as (I think?) limiting the quantity someone is allowed to purchase. I know it's helped lower (GREATLY) the number of meth labs we have, and we're in one of the better known meth areas.

BASICALLY I AGREE, GREAT THINKING CHRISTA AS ALWAYS ♥

Not to mention that Veritaserum isn't necessarily fool-proof, either, as it gauges the user's own truths (subjectively) and not actual objective information.
OHGODYOUARESLYTHERIN

Liz | Gryffindor

[c-hrista.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think about the correlation between illegal brewing of Veritaserum and underground meth labs! This is why wizards should have SOME contact with the Muggle world (because hello, sometimes it's easier to take someone else's ideas and improve on them then come up with your own from scratch). Now I wish I knew the ingredients of Veritaserum, why don't we know this stuff?

On a similar topic, are there other potions that should also be regulated? Like the Regeneration Potion. HOLY CRAP, I DON'T WANT JUST ANYONE BEING ABLE TO MAKE THAT. I mean, even Polyjuice is HUGELY sitting in the gray area when it comes to ~ethical potions, and that's one that appears FREQUENTLY in the series.

LOL HOW IS THAT A SLYTHERIN COMMENT PLS EXPLAIN TO ME.

Christa / Slytherin

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

Contact with Muggles would definitely help in this situation, I think. They've (lol speaking as if I'm not one~~) come up with some ways to effectively regulate substances, despite everything else they may have done wrong.

OH GOD POLYJUICE. REGULATE THE HELL OF OUT THAT. Squicks me out tbh.

I think Love Potions, definitely, should be regulated. Besides having the same squick factor as Polyjuice, we definitely don't want another Voldemort on our hands. (The fact that it seemed so easy for SCHOOLCHILDREN to get really bothered me, especially seeing as how effective they were!) Felix Felicis also, although is that already monitered (in term of Quidditch) or am I remembering that wrong?

Slytherin as in you recognized a grey area. I've always seen Veritaserum as "exposing truths" and truths as absolute black and white. I hadn't even considered there BEING a grey area of subjectiveness to it. THE WORLD IS BLACK AND WHITE, CHRISTA. #GRYFFINDOR

Liz | Gryffindor

[flyingharmony.livejournal.com]

I think it's absolutely insane that Polyjuice is not regulated! We all know what this lead lead to, if not yet in the second book, definitely after the entire Barty Crouch Jr. disaster and even then it's still not regulated, which kind of freaks me out. Love Potions should also be regulated, and eww the imagination of love potions in Voldemort's hands is kind of scary! I don't think if Felix Felicis is monitored in the hands of Quidditch but just that it's generally forbidden to use these kinds of things as doping before an actual game, so I don't know if that counts as monitoring/regulation. In the end, Veritaserum just reveals the truth and doesn't actually do anything to those who drink it, in the sense of changing them or their behaviour. Sure, this can be dangerous as well - actualyl it can be pretty damn dangerous, but still, look at all those other potions that aren't monitored either.

Avi//Hufflepuff//5

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

Love Potions should also be regulated, and eww the imagination of love potions in Voldemort's hands is kind of scary!

Lol I was actually referencing that he was created with the abuse of a love potion, hence why he can't love and is so evil -- so reasonably, if another child were to result from a love potion they too could become like Voldemort. DNW another one. BUT YES, VOLDEMORT WITH LOVE POTIONS WOULD ALSO BE SCARY.

Liz | Gryffindor

[flyingharmony.livejournal.com]

You're right, monitoring Veritaserum would be incredibly hard. First of all, it's very, very rare and second of all it really looks just like water, and you honestly cannot spot it unless you control like... Everything, and no one would like that. Monitoring the brewing of Veritaserum would be kind of an option to at least get a hint of control into the entire thing, but... Yeah, the ingredients would be nice to know for that too.

Avi//Hufflepuff//4