Testing LSD On British Marines In The 1960s

Fear-And-Loathing-In-Las-Vegas“Unknown to the troops, the drug (LSD) was added to the water on the 2nd day”.  Holy… that’s a sneaky move.

Nothing like drugging a bunch of grown men who carry knives and rifles, and hoping for the best.  Pretty funny how they were all LOL’ing (and some ROFL’ing) though. I don’t know anything about LSD, but I’m guessing they were pretty confident it wasn’t going to make any of the Marines violent. Seems like carelessness (such as muzzle direction and trigger discipline etc…) due to being high out of your mind would be a concern though not? Who knows maybe all their rifles were unloaded for this exercise anyway.

Since the point of the test was to find a non-lethal method of incapacitating enemy forces, I wonder how they planned on doing that?  Would they make prisoners of war drink water with the LSD like in the video? Or would they apply it on a large scale to the areas enemy forces occupied, by LSD-fogging from a plane or something?

Gat tip: Sean


Comments

13 responses to “Testing LSD On British Marines In The 1960s”

    1. ENDO-Mike Avatar

      haha

  1. I love the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reference – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pgWsYSyUA

    1. ENDO-Mike Avatar

      I definitely have to watch that movie again soon.

  2. LSD: It makes war a good time!

  3. John Fritz Avatar

    I don’t think FedGov ever found a good way to dose large numbers of people at once, so using ‘cid as an incapacitant never caught on.

    Easier to fog people with chemicals that stop them from being able to breath, move etc. That stuff works.

  4. Quint Young Avatar
    Quint Young

    I think they replaced it with a chemical/drug called BZ, which is apparently easier to disperse, cheaper to make, last much longer and is utterly terrifying for those exposed to it.

  5. LongBeach Avatar

    Holy shit dude, that one guy almost chopped down a tree with a shovel! Do NOT give LSD to the enemy, they’ll build planes out of toothpicks, Legos and snickers bars!

  6. Didn’t GI’s in ‘Nam do this with themselfs anyway? lol.

    Imagine drugging some shellshocked kids with this shit in an actual conflict…

    Nothing good can come out of it.

  7. “Jacobs Ladder”

    1. Quint Young Avatar
      Quint Young

      Jacobs Ladder is based on BZ experiments, not LSD. They are very different incapacitants, LSD may be “fun or meaningful” to some, where as BZ is nothing but horrifying to nearly all peoples.

  8. People on LSD are awesome. I went to a 3-day Phish show in July and my friend and I got a ride from our campsite to the venue in a van with 4 guys who were tripping on acid (the driver was sober). I started making jokes and they were laughing uncontrollably. It’s a great feeling when none of your jokes bomb. I would imagine that, aside from the fact that they were at war, those soldiers probably had a good time for the duration of their trip.

    1. ENDO-Mike Avatar

      haha sounds awesome. I should give LSD out to blog subscribers and maybe I’ll get more laughs at my jokes. :P