Sunday, September 04, 2011
1972 Army drug experiment
The CIA failed this week to convince a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the agency used American soldiers during the Cold War as guinea pigs for drug experiments.
Led by the Vietnam Veterans of America, the plaintiffs are suing the CIA and the U.S. Army for exposing at least 7,800 soldiers to a variety of chemicals and drugs, between 1950 and 1975, as part of Project Paperclip. Military personnel were allegedly given everything from Sarin, a nerve agent used in chemical weapons, to the hallucinogenic LSD.
The purpose of the experiments, according to the plaintiffs, was to learn how to control human behavior, cause confusion, promote weakness and even enhance a person’s ability to withstand torture. The soldiers volunteered for the testing, but were not told at the time to what they were being exposed.
Some of the veterans involved in the testing suffered seizures and paranoia, while others died. One plaintiff in the lawsuit, Frank Rochelle of Onslow County, North Carolina, was administered atropine, a drug with hallucinogenic properties, which caused him to experience more than two days of hallucinations and take a razor blade to his body because he thought his freckles had turned into living bugs.
CIA lawyers sought a summary judgment and dismissal in an Oakland, California, federal courtroom. Instead, the judge ruled the lawsuit can proceed.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Veterans Can Proceed With Drug-Experimentation Suit Against CIA (by Nick McCann, Courthouse News Service)
Vietnam Veterans of America et al. v. CIA (U.S. District Court, Northern California) (pdf)
Federal Judge Orders CIA to Release Records on Secret Experiments on Soldiers (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Vietnam Veterans Allowed to Proceed with Lawsuit over Drug Experiments (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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