Happy Birthday, Lucy

April 16, 1943: At the Sandoz lab in Switzerland, Dr. Albert Hoffman experiences the first known LSD ("acid") trip: "I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away."

LSD played a key role in the development of the 1960s counterculture, most notably due to the efforts of Harvard professor Timothy Leary. In this recording from 1965-1966, Leary provides instructions for those about to embark on their first acid trip. Should the experience become too mentally daunting, Leary urges the trippers to "turn off your mind, relax, float downstream," an admonition that found its way into the Beatles' first psychedelic song, "Tomorrow Never Knows." (note: I've never been impressed with the drug references in that song as much as the fact that it proved Ringo Starr was a big league drummer.).

Few Americans are aware that during the Cold War the United States government over a long period of time investigated the chemical warfare possibilities of LSD. The Central Intelligence Agency took an active interest in hallucinogenic drugs, with the Cold War era MK-ULTRA project being the chief research program. In 1985 Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain released Acid Dreams--The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond (New York: Grove Press), a minor classic exposing how the CIA's obsession with LSD as a potential tool of counter espionage led to the exploitation of human guinea pigs. Lee and Shlain's exhaustively researched book presents scenes that would be too incredible to believe were it not for the fact that they obtained documents via Freedom of Information Act requests to prove them. For example, in 1955 the CIA commissioned narcotics officer George Hunter White to initiate Operation Midnight Climax, "in which drug-addicted prostitutes were hired to pick up men from local bars and bring them back to a CIA financed bordello. Unknowing customers were treated to drinks laced with LSD while White sat on a portable toilet behind two-way mirrors, sipping martinis and watching every stoned and kinky moment. As payment for their services the hookers received $100 a night, plus a guarantee from White that that he'd intercede on their behalf should they be arrested while plying their trade . . . White's harem of prostitutes became the focal point of an extensive CIA study of how to exploit the art of lovemaking for espionage purposes." (pp. 32-33).

While the CIA was running a taxpayer financed whorehouse, the US Army Chemical Corp had, by the mid-1960s, conducted LSD experiements on fifteen hundred military personnel. According to the authors, "Some later claimed they were coerced into 'volunteering' for these experiments by their superior officers. A number of GI veterans complained they suffered from severe depression and emotional disturbances after the LSD trials." (p. 40). In the early 1950s, the Agency had performed LSD experiments on POWs, federal prisoners, Security officers and, according to the CIA's own language, "at least twelve human subjects of not too high mentality." (p. 14).

The late John Lennon was an enthusiastic LSD disciple in the 1960s. In a Rolling Stone interview shortly after the Beatles broke up in 1969, he claimed to have taken over 1,000 trips. Shortly before his death in 1980 he said: "We must always remember to thank the CIA and the army for LSD. That's what people forget . . . They invented LSD to control people and what they did was give us freedom. Sometimes it works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform." (quoted in Acid Dreams, p. 289).

Lennon penned Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds for the 1967 Sgt. Pepper album, a record that was the epitome of the "acid rock" trend of the time. It must also be noted that William Shatner's version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds might literally be the worst piece of music(?) ever recorded in the entire history of the universe. But if you're an old hippie, you might find the video a bit trippy.

Happy Birthday, Lucy.