Oh yeah, this worked so well during the Cold War.
Al Qaeda Suspect: U.S. Government Gave Me LSD - October 11, 2006 - The New York Sun ... “He was threatened with being cut with a knife and having alcohol poured on the wounds. He was also threatened with imminent execution,” the chief federal defender in Miami, Michael Caruso, wrote. “Additionally, Padilla was given drugs against his will, believed to be some form of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or phencyclidine (PCP), to act as a sort of truth serum during his interrogations.”
MK-Ultra wiki, if you had never heard of it.
I've read about MK-Ultra and the CIA's explorations of weaponizing drugs in both of these quite fascinating books:
“Storming Heaven: Lsd and the American Dream” (Jay Stevens)
and probably elsewhere. Didn't seem to work so well back in the 50s and 60s, but I guess since the Bush administration is all about recycling old, tired Republican plans and operatives (Bolton, Supply-Side economics, Kissinger), why not torture with mind altering drugs too?
(head nod to TPM Muckraker, twice)
Tags: CIA, /civil_liberties, /drugs, /torture
This is a great excuse! I will use it when my teenage son asks me if I ever did drugs. "Son, the FBI/CIA/NSA/FDA made me do drugs."
The first time he asked was December 7, a few years ago, my Pearl Harbor. I just told him that was not conversation to be had at a breakfast table. A friend who is a specialist in substance abuse says parents must deny, always deny. I feel uncomfortable with that. The CIA is better, way better.