LSD as a chemical weapon

(SleeperCells) – In 1963, militaries around the world were conducting bizarre experiments of all sorts hoping to gain an advantage in the Cold War. To test the effects of LSD on combat soldiers, the British military dosed some of their own troops and asked them to complete basic combat related tasks. The results are fairly amusing.

This video was sent to us along with a request for an explanation about how this could possibly benefit the military. As noted in the film, communications became difficult, accuracy failed, simple tasks became near-impossible, and then finally there was a complete breakdown of the chain of command. While the experiment was conducted on British troops, it is likely they were attempting to measure the effects of LSD if the opposition’s forces were exposed to it.

The LSD could be rendered aerosol via an explosion or dispersed in a gas form. For those familiar with the effects of the drug, imagine how a dosed subject would respond to flares, shrieking noises, and explosions. Imagine an entire city which unknowingly came under the effects of the hallucinogenic substance.  To our knowledge, this form of chemical warfare never made it beyond the trial stage, but it certainly seems as though it would be very effective at degrading the opposition’s ability to fight in almost any environment. Our best guess is that the substance was too difficult to effectively deliver in effective amounts on a battlefield.

While such a tactic may seem nothing more than a parlor trick, the ability to disrupt the command and control of an opposing army while sowing confusion and disorder is an ability armies have sought for decades. The United States is known to have continued experimenting with LSD for years after this test.