On this day, April 13, 1953, Project MKUltra was started.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Project MKUltra

Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra), also called the CIA mind control program, is the code name given to a program of experiments on human subjects that were designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, some of which were illegal. Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs and procedures to be used in interrogations in order to weaken the individual and force confessions through mind control. The project was organized through the Office of Scientific Intelligence of the CIA and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. Code names for drug-related experiments were Project Bluebird and Project Artichoke.

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Aims and leadership

The project was headed by Sidney Gottlieb but began on the order of CIA director Allen Welsh Dulles on April 13, 1953.

Robert Hunter (lyricist)

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Early life

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Around 1962, Hunter volunteered for psychedelic chemical experiments at Stanford University, research covertly sponsored by the CIA in its MKULTRA program: others participants included Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg. He was paid to take LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline then report on his experiences, which were creatively-formative for him. After a friend attempted to dissuade him, he said, "It'll be fun! I'll take my typewriter and no telling what'll come out." This incident was the first substantial experience any of the Grateful Dead had with psychedelic drugs, and the creative surge he experienced would prove influential on their collective outlook. Around this time, Hunter was briefly involved with Scientology, and also struggled with addiction to methamphetamine and speed, which drove him to move briefly to Los Angeles and then to New Mexico. Some of his hallucinations later inspired his lyrics, such as those to "China Cat Sunflower".

[MurrayDelph]

1. And the next day, someone cut off part of my penis.

Coincidence?