MKULTRA

Project MKULTRA started in the early 1950's, which continued at least until the 1960's. A covert and illegal human research program that looked into the possibilities of mind control, a reaction to the alleged brain washing of American troops by Korean Communist soldiers. They used US and Canadian citizens as their guinea pigs.

The published evidence indicates that Project MKULTRA involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate individual mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs and other chemicals, sensory deprivation, isolation, and verbal and sexual abuse.

Focus was on the use of LSD due to it's ability to alter the subjects consciousness, and many experiments were undertaken on their the military and on general members of the public also. Experiments included administering LSD to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill patients, and members of the general public in order to study their reactions, almost always without their knowledge. 


Efforts to "recruit" subjects were often illegal, even though actual use of LSD was legal in the United States until October 6, 1966. In Operation Midnight Climax, the CIA set up several brothels in San Francisco, CA to obtain a selection of men who would be too embarrassed to talk about the events. The men were dosed with LSD, the brothels were equipped with two-way mirrors, and the sessions were filmed for later viewing and study.