The Government and LSD throughout the 1950's and 60's

LSD has historically been associated with the counterculture of the 1960’s. However, Swiss doctor Werner Stoll did the first scientific studies revolving around LSD and its psychological properties in 1947. Stoll reported in the Swiss Archives of Neurology that LSD caused disturbances in perception, hallucinations, and acceleration in thinking. Shortly after this discovery was made LSD’s future would be shaped forever when the CIA got hold of the chemical in the early 1950’s.
The next major turning point for LSD came in April of 1953 with the birth of the CIA operation MK-ULTRA. This operation focused on the use of drugs to manipulate and control mind functions in different scenarios. Perhaps one of the most notable and questionable operations within MK-ULTRA was operation midnight climax. Overseen by Dr. Gottlieb and CIA agent George Hunter White. Operation midnight climax included the hiring of prostitutes to lure unsuspecting lab victims into trying LSD laced cocktails. Through a double-sided mirror White could observe and report what the people did under the influence of LSD. Experiments like this continued until the mid to late 1960’s.
In addition to reports done on unknowing civilians, the government also used its own military as guinea pigs while experimenting with LSD. By the mid 1960’s nearly fifteen hundred military personnel had served as guinea pigs in LD experiments conducted by the US Army Chemical Corps.
By 1966 the United States Government made LSD an illegal substance. What I found most interesting about the governments involvement in LSD was the fact that their thoughts about the chemical are so one sided. Throughout the 1950’s the US government and the CIA were only interested in LSD’s use as an incapacitating agent. Scientists funded through the government ignored to entertain even the possibility that LSD may have some positive personal or medical uses. Once LSD proved that it was not the truth serum drug, nor the interrogation weapon that would give the US the upper hand in the Cold War, the US government wanted it gone entirely.