1. omnibrain
  2. LSD in the military - a picture show.

LSD in the military - a picture show.

By omnibrain on December 2, 2010.

It seems that there are some cool pictures/film floating around showing some of the results of the wacky shit that the military did back in the day in order to win wars in some very very unconventional ways. Here's something NPR dug up:

The Army had a few periods of experimenting with LSD and other drugs. While not secret, these tests are not as well-known as some of the similar LSD tests conducted by the CIA, such as MK-ULTRA and Operation Paperclip, where the U.S. government recruited former Nazi scientists.

This test, circa 1958, was conducted at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland and was part of a Chemical Corps program that sought effective psychochemical incapacitants, to be delivered in aerosol form. Apparently, President Eisenhower was enthusiastic about the program and its possibilities.

In the end, LSD proved to be problematic -- it was too expensive, it was unstable once airborne, and there were patent complications -- but the program did lead to Agent BZ, which was weaponized but never used in combat.

Thanks Shelley!!

Tags
Drugs
military
neuroscience
Psychology

More like this

Weaponizing the Brain
There's an excellent and thought-provoking column in the latest Nature, arguing that basic neuroscience research will be weaponized unless researchers are vigilant. It is, of course, a scary prospect to imagine: a fleet of biological and chemical weapons targeted at the brain, and benefiting from…
CIA Experimented with LSD on Unsuspecting French Villagers
(updated below - Update II - Update III)    CIA peppered bread with LSD in 1951            Image: The TelegraphYesterday the UK newspaper The Telegraph published an article revealing that a mysterious 1951 outbreak of mass hysteria in France was actually the result of a secret experiment performed…
The truth about lie detection
Washington Treasury Secret Service Bureau chief M. R. Allen acts as a subject in a demonstration of the polygraph test, at the U.S. Secret Service Men's Convention in 1941. (Image: Bettmann/ Corbis) This week, the NPR Morning edition featured a three-part series on lie detection, which included…
Revealed: CIA/Blackwater Assassination Program [VIDEO]
In a huge breaking story, The New York Times is reporting today that the CIA, with Bush administration authorization, used the private military firm Blackwater (who changed their name to Xe Services after controversy erupted when contractors killed Iraqi civilians) in a program intended to hunt…

Yep, I was in the Chemical Corps from 94-98. We watched all kinds of videos like that one. Everything from LSD spray on an Army Artillery unit, to nerve agent on a goat.