Bombing the Mind, The Pentagons Drug War
In The Futurological Congress (1971), Polish writer Stanislaw Lem portrayed a future in which disobedience is controlled with hypothetical mind-altering chemicals dubbed benignimizers. Lems fictional work opens with the frightening story of a police and military biochemical attack on protesters outside of an international scientific convention. As the environment becomes saturated with hallucinogenic agents, in Lems tale the protesters (and bystanders) descend into chaos, overcome by delusions and feelings of complacency, self-doubt, and even love.
If the Pentagons Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) has its way, Lem may be remembered as a prophet.
The Advantages and Limitations of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique, a 49 page report obtained last week by the Sunshine Project under US information freedom law, has revealed a shocking Pentagon program that is researching psychopharmacological weapons. Based on extensive review conducted on the medical literature and new developments in the pharmaceutical industry, the report concludes that the development and use of [psychopharmacological weapons] is achievable and desirable. These mind-altering weapons violate international agreements on chemical and biological warfare as well as human rights. Some of the techniques discussed in the report have already been used by the US in the War on Terrorism.
Failed Drugs: The report points out that pharmaceutical candidates that fail because of excessive side-effects might be desirable for use as weapons: Often, an unwanted side-effect will terminate the development of a promising new pharmaceutical compound. However, in the variety of situations in which non-lethal techniques are used, there may be less need to be concerned with unattractive side-effects Perhaps, the ideal calmative has already been synthesized and is awaiting renewed interest from its manufacturer.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/07/02/b...-drug-war/