LSD, Nazis, and The CIA
The pursuit of truth serum
Ergot is a toxic grain fungus. For centuries it wreaked havoc on anyone who accidently ingested too much of it.
Ergot poisoning is known as St. Anthony’s Fire. Its symptoms are horrific — first, frightful hallucinations. Second, your blood vessels constrict so severely that it causes limbs to fall off. It’s said that St. Anthony’s Fire inspired some of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings.
Lysergic acid diethylamide
In 1918, a Swiss chemist named Arthur Stoll isolated an alkaloid in ergot that lead to a popular drug named Gynergen. It helped induce contraction of the blood vessels in cases of postnatal hemorrhaging.
Albert Hofmann, a protege and employee of Stoll, began experimenting with ergot in 1935. He was trying to isolate an alkaloid from ergot that could be used as a stimulant. He found another type of drug instead — lyseric acid diethylamide. Hofmann called it LSD-25 for short because it was the 25th compound found in his ergot experiments.
Hofmann discovered LSD-25 in 1938. He tested it on mice. The dosed mice didn’t show any discernable difference from undosed mice so he concluded it wasn’t worth any more testing. He forgot about it until 1943. Then he began experimenting with it once again.
Hofmann’s infamous bike ride
On April 16th, 1943, Hofmann accidentally dosed himself with a trace amount of LSD-25. Here’s a passage from his journal describing his accidental experience with the newfound drug:
“With my eyes closed (I found the daylight unpleasantly harsh), fantastical images of extradorinary plasticity and with an intense, kaleidoscope-like play of colors pressed in on me with out cease.”
Three days later he voluntarily dosed himself. This time it was a much higher dose. This led to the infamous bicycle ride through Basel, Switzerland while tripping balls. Today, August 19th is known as “Bicycle Day.”
But why did Hofmann completely shut the door on LSD in 1938 only to return to it with vigor in 1943?
It had to do with Hitler. Yes, that Hitler.
Hitler wants a truth serum
Remember I mentioned Arthur Stoll earlier? He was the first guy to manipulate Ergot. He was also the CEO of Sandoz, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland.
Stoll was a long-time friend of Richard Kuhn. They met in college and studied under the same mentor. Kuhn was a German chemist who had close ties to the Nazi party. He was developing poison gases for them.
In 1943, Hitler was becoming increasingly paranoid. He believed members of his party were traitors trying to kill him. He had good reason to believe this because there were traitors in his party, and they were trying to kill him.
Hiter’s parnoia lead to the pursuit of a “truth serum.” He wanted a way to tell who was conspiring against him and who was on his side. Kuhn became the head of this “truth serum” project. He contacted his old buddy Stoll. Stoll suggested using newly discovered LSD for this project. Thus began Nazi experiments with LSD.
CIA gets their hands on LSD
But the “truth serum” project didn’t last long. The Nazis lost the war. Hitler was dead. Germany was occupied by the US, USSR, Great Britain, and France.
While occupying Germany, the US government became aware of the Nazi’s experiments with the mysterious drug LSD. They discovered they were using it as a truth serum.
They were intrigued, but also worried that the Russians would get their hands on this truth serum before they did. That’s why a couple of CIA guys flew to Switzerland with brief cases full of cash. They wanted to buy all the LSD Sandoz had. They also wanted to make sure they didn’t sell any to the Russians, or any other country, for that matter.
A few years later, on April 13th, 1953, the CIA launched MK-Ultra. LSD played an important role. Like the Nazis they began experimenting on people wittingly and unwittingly.
*If you find this interesting I suggest reading Tripped by Norman Ohler. It’s a deep dive into hidden history of the Nazis and LSD, the CIA’s twisted MK-Ultra experiments, and America’s War on Drugs.