THE ACID CONSPIRACY
Growing up with the unsettling prospect of nuclear annihilation does
strange things to people.
This thought always comes to mind whenever I see a Vietnam-era photo
of hippies frolicking.
Then again, perhaps there is something more to the flower child
zeitgeist that remains indecipherable to the rest of us.
Therein lies an interesting conspiracy theory.
I'm currently reading David Black's indispensable Acid: A New Secret
History of LSD (Vision 2001) which recounts in fascinating detail the
drug's trajectory from a promising treatment for schizophrenia to its
current status as a highly illicit substance.
In a section aptly titled "Grand Illusions," Black asks a highly
provocative question: was the psychedelic era in all its revolutionary
grandeur an organic countercultural phenomenon or a clandestine
government experiment in social control?
"Any counter-insurgency operation with access to the discoveries of
the CIA's MK-Ultra project would have available an arsenal of
techniques when faced with political challenge," he remarks ominously.
The aforementioned project remains one of the more shadowy chapters in
the agency's unsavory history.
Although most documents pertaining to the project were destroyed in
1973, we do know that in the 1950's, secret mind control studies were
conducted in response to reports of communist brainwashing techniques.
In the hopes of winning this "battle of the minds," the coercive
potential of various mind-altering substances (including LSD) were
extensively explored on human subjects.
Fast forward ten years or so, and the US is facing the worst domestic
unrest since the Great Depression. Thousands of anti-war protesters
are challenging US involvement in Vietnam with increasingly volatile
hippie-led demonstrations posing a major threat to the established
order.
By 1968, the CIA was effectively in charge of all "anti-dissident
operations" as part of an infamous program known as "Operation CHAOS."
Considered one of the most invasive surveillance operations in US
history, the CIA worked hand-in-glove with the FBI agents and
procavateurs to monitor, disrupt, and isolate suspect individuals and
political groups.
Meanwhile, the psychedelic subculture was being closely monitored by
government-connected think tanks like the Rand corporation.
According to an excerpt from Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain's renowned
Acid Dreams, William McClothlin, a Rand analyst, issued a report
suggesting that LSD can engender "changes in dogmatism" and "political
affiliation."
Black places an acid-dealing arms dealer with intelligence connections
named Ronald Stark at the center of this cognitive counter-insurgency
campaign.
From his clandestine European laboratories, Stark was trafficking in
millions of hits of LSD which resurfaced in hippie enclaves throughout
America.
This wasn't the mind-expanding LSD-25 of the Leary era, but a
mass-produced,synthetic version which Black says was "much more
hedonistic" and capable of "merely amplifying what was already there,
including much that was negative."
He quotes legendary 60's icon, marijuana reform activist, and former
White Panther leader John Sinclair who remains puzzled by the events
that transpired during those turbulent years:
"We thought at the time that as a result of our LSD-inspired
activities great things would come about. And of course it
didn't...They were moving that shit around. Down on the street, nobody
knew what was going on."
Sinclair also points out that the influx of LSD, Heroin, and STP into
the 60's drug scene coincided with the federal government's Operation
Intercept which effectively curtailed the domestic supply of marijuana
and led many to experiment with other substances.
Is it beyond the realm of imagination to believe that elements within
the national security community willingly flooded the underground
economy with poor-quality LSD as part of its take-no- prisoners
strategy against anti-war protesters?
Let's be honest, somebody had to be high to believe that a group of
guitar-strumming hippies were capable of transforming the USA into
some sort of Maoist worker's paradise...
Obviously the "Revolution Trip" had a far-reaching impact on baby boom
adolescents. While many acid-fueled seekers engaged in fruitless
political adventurism by embracing the "armed struggle," others
gravitated towards ashrams, communes, and various cultic
confabulations that emerged during the spiritual crisis of the 1970's.
Since that time, the "freedom generation" have obviously come to terms
with these youthful indiscretions.
While many former hippies have played a commendable role in working to
reform the nation's draconian anti-narcotic laws, the vast majority of
baby-boomers now wholeheartedly support the government's militarized
campaign against mind-altering substances.
"Boomers have collaborated and shamelessly switched sides on the war
on drugs with full knowledge of the repercussions," asserts Reason
staffer Jeff Jarvis.
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