Hunting for the Mind-Breaking Plants of Project ARTICHOKE
In late 1952, a CIA scientist was quietly preparing for a multi-week research mission into the jungles and highlands of Mexico. His goal wasn’t academic. It was operational. He was tasked with locating, testing, and extracting specific narcotic and toxic plants...
Conscious Control: The CIA’s Early Blueprint for Drugged Interrogation
Before MK-Ultra had a name, before LSD entered the agency’s toolbox, U.S. intelligence was already sketching out a method to collapse resistance and extract confessions-one chemically induced blackout at a time. The document, simply titled "Interrogation", offers a...
Covert Influence: Inside the CIA’s Behavioral Drug Programs
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) maintained a long-running interest in behavioral drugs for both defensive and offensive purposes. From the 1950s through the early 1970s, the agency explored ways to: Protect its operatives from hostile drug interrogation. Use...
Radioactive LSD Research Detailed in Letter from Swiss Lab
A recently declassified letter-unsigned but originating from a pharmaceutical laboratory in Switzerland-offers rare insight into the controlled distribution and production of LSD for research purposes during the mid-20th century. Though brief and clinical in tone, the...
U.S. Navy-Funded Push to Replace Codeine in the 50s
A quiet but critical drug development program, backed by the Office of Naval Research and housed at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, was launched to solve a national pharmaceutical vulnerability: America’s dependence on opium for...
