Psychoactive Drugs Quotes



He was opposed to the use of illicit drugs when most writers claimed that drug taking opened new vistas. Koestler, a Hungarian Jew, lived and worked in England for most of his life. He was not only a great writer, but was an amateur scientist.


Several unwitting subjects were permanently mentally damaged from the large doses of LSD the Central Intelligence Agency administered to them. They thought that the drugs might function as a truth serum or have other effects that they could take advantage of. The Central Intelligence Agency was conducting these “scientific experiments” but had no scientists to design and carry out responsible research. There are few controls on the agency because so much they do they classified as secret. These activities were kept secret for years, but when they were finally disclosed, there was special legislation curbing this type of dangerous, damaging, unethical and totally unproductive so called research. See {612802} for his personal reaction to this activity.


Lister only compared opium in its then usual form. Stronger opiate derivatives such as Heroin and morphine were not studied by him at the time.