COOL TECH THIS WEEK: 'Good' L.S.D.
By Noah Shachtman
Editor, DefenseTech.org
'71 Study: L.S.D. Good for G.I.s
Wanna make American soldiers a little happier, and a little more productive on the job? Then give 'em a tiny dose of LSD. That's the conclusion, more or less, of a 1971 Army study, now posted on The Memory Hole.
From 1961 to 1966, 52 Army volunteers were kept awake for 24 hours straight. Then they were dosed with varying levels of LSD, and given a series of written and motor-skills tests.
The results? "The K (positive test-taking attitude), Hs (hypochondraisis) and Si (social introversion) scales were positive correlated with performance at lower doses and negatively correlated with performance and higher doses." In other words, a little LSD boosted the soldiers' test-taking abilities.
For some of them, at least. A lot depended on the G.I.'s personalities, the doctors at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal said. "Resistant subjects at lower doses were found to be more intelligent, energetic, and outgoing. Sensitive subjects at lower doses were found to be less intelligent, more constricted, more anxious, over-controlled, and dependent."
Sounds about right to me.
