More if one runs into the WaPo paywall, there is this article among many others: http://www.oneworldmedia.us/news/james-ketchum-who-conducted-lsd-experiments-on-soldiers-dies-at-87/
wikipedia
It sounds sinister today to speak about this. I have no idea if back in the day, it could have been seen as a "noble cause" per the first article.
@TomSea I sort of vaguely remember people talking about this in the 70's and claiming there was never any shortage of Acid Test volunteers. IIRC,Timothy Leary had a US Goobermint research grant at the college where he taught to research the various uses of LSD.
Unfortunately for LSD and the people that could have benefited from it,the military had a different focus than mental health care,and not all the subjects were volunteers,and it seems the researchers might not have been as careful about dosage size as they could have/should have been.
AND......,since the government wanted to weaponize it,that meant it could not also be used as a mental health tool. After all,you can't have it as both a tool to help Americans and a tool to destroy the minds of our enemies,can you? Hard to get financing and hard to keep people from talking about it if you try.
I freely admit that my taking LSD and similar mind-altering drugs in the 70's gave me insights into things that were bothering me on a sub-conscious level that I didn't even know were the cause of many of my physical reactions like anger and violence. It came as a shock to be to be tripping and sitting in a bar,and then watching someone else act out in anger,and be able to see myself in them. Most importantly,I remembered how foolish and senseless that other person had been once I came down and was back to normal,and recognizing that you HAVE a problem and now know the SOURCE of the problem is key to eliminating it as a problem.
I also freely admit I was more than a little suicidal back then,and taking LSD and similar drugs are the only reason I am alive today. You can't beat something unless you can understand it and how it affects you.
The media played their part in demonizing drugs like LSD and "magic mushrooms" by publicizing stories of mass murders supposedly done under the influence of mind-altering drugs,but I suspect in most cases it was alcohol and not LSD. The truth is there were reasons hippies became known as being passive and non-violent,and those reasons were related to their drug use.
Then again,the hippies knew they were taking mind-altering drugs,and unlike the "test monkey soldiers" that had scientists trying to convince them they were insane and violent,the hippies had people keeping them mellow.
To this very day I think there should be mandatory hard time in prison given to anyone who gives anyone else any sort of mind-altering drug without their permission.