Operation Midnight Climax: among the greatest medical conspiracies of all time would have to be listed the CIA's odd experiments with LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)--also known by the street names of acid, candy, cube, instant Zen, sugar, California sunshine, orange mushroom, mellow yellow, purple haze--is a white, odourless, tasteless powder, and considered one of the most potent mindaltering chemicals known to man. First synthesized in 1938 by chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann, it lay dormant on the shelf until a serendipitous event in 1943. It was accidentally absorbed through Dr. Hofmann's fingertips, and he went on to record the first "acid trip."

Who could have guessed, years later, it would be enlisted in the service of U.S. national security in the form of government-operated LSD whorehouses?

During the 1950s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had authorized project MK-Ultra, a research program designed to test and perfect truth serums, interrogation drugs and mind-controlling techniques and pharmaceuticals. The idea was conceived by Richard Helms of the Clandestine Services Department, with Dr. Sidney Gottlieb placed in charge of MK-Ultra. This was the same Dr. Gottlieb who, as head of MK-Ultra, sponsored Montreal neurologist Dr. Ewen Cameron's infamous clinical work with deep sleep and "psychic driving."

MK-Ultra experimented with barbiturates, morphine, cocaine, peyote, mescaline, marijuana, caffeine and hypnosis, but it was LSD that really caught its attention. Recognized by the CIA years before it was popularized by the drug cult led by acid guru Timothy Leary, beat poet Allen Ginsberg and novelist Ken Kesey, LSD seemed to have unlimited espionage and chemical weaponry potential.

Initially, CIA operatives agreed to slip LSD into each other's drinks, with the provision being they would never know when it would be their turn. Later, everyone became fair game, and surprise acid trips became a CIA occupational hazard. Finally, the so-called research ascended to laughable proportions when it was learned MK-Ultra jokers planned to serve LSD-laden punch at the annual CIA Christmas party. When higher-ups realized what was going down, a security memo doused the prank.

Not all CIA acid trips were benign frolics. One turned lethal. In 1953, at a CIA-sponsored retreat in Maryland, Dr. Frank Olsen, a civilian biological warfare expert employed by the U.S. Army's Medical Corps, was unwittingly slipped a glass of Cointreau liberally spiked with LSD. Olson developed psychotic symptoms soon after, and nine days later plunged to his death from the upper floor of a New York hotel.

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Dr. Gottlieb had other problems besides the Olsen suicide to fret over. Upon hearing agents were experiencing difficulties slipping LSD to subjects, he hired New York magician John Mulholland to prepare a top-secret manual on techniques for surreptitiously dropping drugs into unsuspecting contacts' drinks. An even bigger worry of Dr. Gottlieb's was obtaining a plentiful supply of LSD. At first, the drug was only available from Sandoz in Switzerland. Dr. Gottlieb was worried the communists would tap into his supply. However, in 1954, Eli Lilly succeeded in synthesizing the drug, and would be able to provide enough quantity to satisfy everyone's demands.

With the in-house CIA testing more or less completed, MK-Ultra decided to move the absurd research program onto the street. George Hunter White, a contract hired narcotics officer from the Federal Narcotics Bureau, was enlisted to set up Operation Midnight Climax. His past credentials included testing marijuana on unsuspecting subjects to develop truth serums. The methodology was out of a bad spy novel and clearly in violation of the day's ethical and moral standards, as the U.S. had voted in favour of the United Nation's Nuremberg Principles in 1946.

Initially, White set up a safe house in New York's Greenwich Village under the alias of Morgan Hall. From 1953 to 1954, he lured subjects there and slipped them drugs. The frequency of bad LSD trips observed led White to coin his own slang for the drug: "Stormy." In 1955, White moved his operation to San Francisco where two more safe houses, known as "the pads," were established. However, the methodology changed slightly. Drug-addicted prostitutes were hired to pick up men from bars and bring them to apartments which were in effect CIA-leased bordellos. The "Johns" were then plied with LSD laced drinks while the kinky action was observed behind two-way mirrors. Not only were the effects of LSD recorded, but the art of lovemaking for the sake of espionage was studied and perfected. The hookers received $100 and immunity from arrest.

During the period of Operation Midnight Climax, White also kept his day job for the narcotics bureau tracking down and busting San Francisco drug pushers. This led to quite a schizophrenic existence. By day, he was a stalwart law enforcer getting drugs off the street; by night he was dispensing them in what were essentially national security whorehouses.

Operation Midnight Climax was terminated a decade after it started by the CIA Inspector General because the tests were "distasteful and unethical." In 1966, LSD possession was made criminal in the state of California. It became illegal for the entire U.S. in 1968.

But what was the real purpose behind such cloak and dagger research as Operation Midnight Climax? Undoubtedly, the Cold War was the driving force. The CIA had been awakened by reports that the Soviet Union had made giant strides in developing chemical compounds for brainwashing. The CIA did not want to be left behind. Still, they and the armed forces strove for a positive spin, implying it was a humanitarian desire that spurred their experimentation. According to them, it was hoped psychoactive chemicals such as LSD might turn out to be more civilized weapons of the future. They argued that spiking a city's water supply with acid, and creating mass hysteria, might be a more humane method of warfare than levelling it with bombs or nukes.

After decades of research into behaviour control, it appeared the CIA had discovered precious little. By 1965, 2,000 studies of the drug had been published, but LSD never did find a security use or disease to cure. CIA researchers turned great imagination into decadent science. Dr. Gottlieb died in 1999, and was unapologetic to the end. He rationalized that such experimental risks were reasonable in view of the threat to national security.

CIA operatives agreed to slip LSD into each other's drinks, with the provision being they would never know when it would be their turn. Later, everyone became fair game