Used Cannabis In Their Drug Experiments example essay topic

The Dark Conspiracy Behind The CIA During the early 1950's and into the mid 1960's there were a number of unusual activities involving the CIA, The Canadian Government, and the American Government. It was a conspiracy. No one would ever guess that it was being supported by all three groups. During this time a number of experiments involving hallucinogenic, along with what some might consider inhuman methods of psychiatry, were performed on patients.

This wasn't the end of the story. After three decades through endless court battles, a mysterious death of one of the world's most famous psychiatrists / doctor, and numerous investigations, The CIA ended up being the most dominant player and winner of this international yet mysterious case. Central Intelligence Agency, (CIA), U.S. agency est. (1947) by the National Security Act. It conducts intelligence and counterintelligence activities outside the U.S. It also engages in domestic counterintelligence operations, but only in coordination with the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION and subject to the attorney general's approval. These limitations were mandated by a 1978 executive order, issued in the wake of abuses related to the WATERGATE AFFAIR and of a presidential commission's charge (1975) that the CIA had engaged in unlawful domestic spying.

The CIA has also been criticized for taking an active role in the internal affairs of foreign governments. source: Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright 1994 Columbia University Press. The Beginning of MKultra The MKultra program emerged in 1953. It dealt with drugs and counter-drugs involved in research and development. MKultra immediate inspiration came from confessions made at Stalin's how trials and a public confession of Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary on February 3, 1949. He showed signs that made the impression of being "broken down".

As a result of theses incidents the C.I. A was interested in the reason behind all this. Another factor was the Korean War. During the war, U. S servicemen made radio propaganda which broadcasts for The Soviets. Behind these broadcasts was the plea for an end with U. S involvement in the war. People were confessing to the most extraordinary charges in the communist courts. These events lead The Senior C.I. A Staff to suspect that The Soviets had mind control over the people.

It was a time that the memory of The Nazi death camps was still in the air, and previously facing massive bombing, the best and brightest of the U. S Government thought that another totalitarian threat was about to emerge and they were facing new technical evils. From all this paranoia, MKultra was created. It showed that the CIA was in the context of it's time, "sharing the concerns of society, not removed from them" These concerns were reflected in the following CIA analysis: Since the notorious Moscow trial of 1937, overt Russian judicial procedure has been noteworthy for the dramatic trials in which the defendants have exhibited anomalous and incomprehensible behaviour and confessions. Characteristics and manner of the defendants, and formulation and delivery of the "confessions" have been so similar in a large number of cases as to suggest factitious origin. Most noteworthy and incredible has been the recent "confession" of His Eminence Cardinal Mindszenty while on trial in the People's Court of Hungary... The evident incongruities prompted this study...

It became apparent at the outset of the study that the style, context and manner of delivery of "confessions were such as to be inexplicable unless there had been a reorganization and reorientation of the minds of the confesses. There is adequate historical experience to establish that basic changes in the functional organization of the human mind cannot be brought about by the traditional methods of physical torture-these, at the most, achieve a reluctant, temporary yielding and, moreover, leave their mark upon the victim. Newer or more subtle techniques had, therefore, to be considered... a. Psychosurgery: a surgical separation of the frontal lobes of the brain. b. Shock method: (1) electrical (2) drug: metrazol, cannabis, indica, insulin, cocaine. c.

Psychoanalytic methods: (1) psychoanalysis (2) narcoanalysis and synthesis (3) hypnoanalysis and synthesis. d. Combinations of the foregoing. For the next twenty years, under several of names, the CIA began research on controlling human behaviour. The first being Project Bluebird. During WWII the military hospitals discovered that soldiers and patients intend to speak freely when they where under the influence of anesthetics. For this reason the OSS used cannabis in their drug experiments.

The first field test was performed on underworld figure known as August Del Gracio, a member of Charles "Lucky" Luciano crime family in New York. He was given cigarettes heavily laced with cannabis. As he smoked they questioned him about underworld activities. Del Gracio and the OSS were also involved in attempt to arrange and prepare for an invasion of Sicily, and the protection of the New York docks against enemy sabotage. Directed by She fields Edwards (head of the CIA's Office of Security) the project goal was to de termed whether a team consisting of psychiatrists, lie detector experts, hypnotists, and technicians could get better results with drugs over other means of interrogation. A month later the Korean War, the team worked in Tokyo to investigate four people suspected to be double agents.

The results were considered to be successful. In October 1950 the team worked on captured North Koreans. When Bedell Smith became DCI, Project Bluebird goals were to develop human robots. This experiment was called Project Artichoke.

It was carried out by CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. It's intentions were " to exploit along operational lines, scientific method and knowledge that can be utilized in altering attitudes, beliefs thought process and behaviour patterns of agent personnel" Due to the sensitivity of the techniques carried out and substances used, this was a highly confidential project. Within a short time, there were rumours in the Dictorate of Plans about double agents that were killed in the prior MKultra experiments. Both projects were conducted in Germany, Far East, and the United States. In April 1953, under the direction of Allen Dulles and Richard Helms, the program began to involve biological and chemical materials. At the time, Dr. Harris Isabell was head of the drug treatment center in Lexington, Kentucky, where he carried out numerous experiments on drug addicts.

The drugs used in the experiments were supplied by the CIA. Here the testees where informed of what exactly was involved in the research and their consents were obtained (no where else did this happen). At the time L.S. D particularly interested the agency. The long term effects of this drug was not known. There were one case where the doctor kept seven men on L.S. D for 77 days. It was considered to be even too much for "acid heads" of the 1960's to handle!

The object of the experiments conducted were to see if it was possible to control people for a long period of time, from faraway distances. "The spectacle of people's behaviour being controlled in Soviet show trials indicated that the Russians had perfected such techniques" The experiments wasn't usually successful because the patients that were used were previously hardened drug addicts. So as in 1953 "normal" people were used. Dr. Sidney Gotlieb was currently head of TSS at the time, where he reported to Frank Wisner and Richard helms in the Dictorate of Plans. He was mainly responsible for coordinating the MKultra programs. In 1953 numerous projects under MKultra came into existence and were under Gotlieb's authority.

There was Project Chatter (1947), a navy program attempted to test and identify truth drugs, due to the report of the amazing results obtained by the Soviets. MK Naomi (1952), was designed for the production of biological chemical weapons and substances for the agency's use. MK Delta (1952) was the procedure for governing the use of MKultra material abroad. In all there were 149 MKultra subprojects, 33 additional subprojects that were solely funded by MKultra itself. The 33 additional subprojects had nothing to do with behavioral modification, toxins, or drugs. By then MKultra indicated how the agency was ready, willing and prepared to face the world on a different level.

There was one of the subproject that was considered to be humorous, Subproject #94 involving cats, dogs, and monkeys. These animals were used as guided bombs and microphones for eavesdropping. Audio device was considered inefficient and didn't work effectively enough. They acted like cameras and would record what they saw and the results were sometimes incomprehensive. An example would be at cocktail parties where these devices would record everything, therefore the outcome was fuzzy. So the CIA began to invest alot of money and time on training a cat.

This cat was cut open and a microphone would be inserted in it's cochlea and an antenna in it's tail. At first the cat would wander off everytime it got hungary, so they split the cat in half once again and wired it in order for it not to have the hunger sensation. Finally when they released it and instructed in to listen into two men talking in the park, it got ran over as it crossed the street. Canada's Involvement Similar events took place in Canada during 1957 to 1962. Under a false front called the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology.

Experiments were led by Scottish-born Dr. Ewen Cameron. Cameron was considered to some as "the godfather of Canadian psychiatry". He worked at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal and was the director there as well. He was also known for helping Allen Dulles analyze the phycological mentality of some of the Nazi leaders in WWII. In various stages of his life he served as the President of Canadian, and American world psychiatric associations.

His experiments consisted of L.S. D, me sabine, truth serum, and other mind altering chemicals. These experiments were also followed by sleep deprivation, isolation chambers and massive electro-shock treatments. "Some experiments involved patients putting on black foot-ball helmets for up to 16 hours so they could listen to a tape playing back their most painful memories". During his career, he seemed cures for shizophremia, depression, and other mental disorders, and always had the belief of "doctor-knows- best". All research subjects signed consent forms, which enable the medical staff to do whatever they feel was necessary. Obviously consents weren't enough, in all there were 53 Canadians that were victimized.

Nine impaired for life. When Cameron was investigated, he was found dead under mysterious circumstances after a fall off a cliff in New England. Shortly after his death his son Duncan, deliberately burned all of his father's files which contained information on the experiments conducted. As the connections between the CIA and the institute began to emerged in the 1970's, nine of the Canadians launched lawsuits against the U. S Government. They were unaware that the CIA had contributed $85,000 to such experiments.

They also found out that the Canadian Government also contributed $70,000. But the trial proved less damaging to the governments and agency than to the nine victims that were impaired for life. The CIA also tried to switch the blame on the Canadian Government. In the end the nine victims received $20,000 Canadian dollars each.

Presently today all investigations have not ended. The trials are taking too slow in the courts, and both governments are too ashamed to admit their involvements so the rely on delaying time and expecting the victims deaths to silence the history of the past. Under Investigation The CIA has been investigated a number of times by different task force groups. In 1949 it was recommended that the organization reorganized it's itself and it's operations.

After the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed groups to analyze the agency. In 1975 the CIA was under congressional and White House examination. "It was found that the agency had been engaged in "unlawful" domestic spying activities and had been implicated in assassination attempts abroad". Among the Rockefeller commission it stated in it disclosure that: "As part of a (CIA) program to test the influence of drugs on humans, research included the administration of LSD to persons who were unaware that they were being tested. This was clearly illegal. One person died in 1953, apparently result.

The victim was Frank Olson, who, a month later digesting L.S. D, committed suicide. He jumped out a window from the tenth floor of his apartment. President Ford at the time decided to apologize to Olson's widow. In 1976 the Congress passed a bill in order to pay Mrs. Olson $750,000 in compensation. As a result of these investigations, these committees were formed and exists as of today to check on the agency. These committees had jurisdiction over review of the CIA's activities.

Current Developments and Reports These are some of the most recent issues that originated or relate to the program and intentions of MKultra: - Over the past ten to fifteen years, a group of military personnel (The New Age Army) in the Military Intelligence, directed programs or projects that explored paranormal activities and capabilities. Studies on Enhancing Human Performance has occurred during this time. - Dr. Ian Wickramasekera of Eastern Virginia Medical School has studied the expansion of sensory input during trauma which would lead to time dilation, etc. This gentleman has also studied the effects of sensory deprivation on hypnotic susceptibility in young women.

- In a recent article in U. S News & World Report, John Gittinger, a CIA psychologist associated with a CIA front organization, the Human Ecology Society admitted to knowledge of experiments in developing ESP by giving electric shocks to subjects when they gave wrong answers. - Recently, a Russian researcher in psychotropics, Dr. Igor Smirnov, has helped to start up a new Virginia company, called Psyc o-Technologies. It is supposed to conduct research on various kinds of LTL technology, with a concentration on Soviet-developed psychotropic warfare capabilities involving the use of electromagnetic and sonic waves to influence and disable individuals or crowds. Supposedly this ranges from simply falling to influencing people thought via audio or visual subliminal messages. source: mkultra.. (internet) Conclusion From looking for ways to counter suspect communist breakthroughs in techniques of interrogation, to causing death and emotional pain to victims, one might conclude that the actual purpose and intentions of such programs funded by the CIA, has minor advantages. Looking at the whole picture abroad with the CIA contributing over $25 million into these programs with altogether 50 universities and 21 countries involved, it might seem such experiments were disadvantages and a waste of time in the long run.

The importance of such programs clearly indicates and questions if society is entitled to know certain information, if even though the keeper is a well respected organization, of any sort. Who is entitled to know such information. ".. clinical research is designed not only to provide care to patients but to generate scientific knowledge. ".

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