BBC: "The town that went mad" - Did the CIA put LSD in the bread sold in this French town?

[Turborama]

Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD?

August 23 2010

By Mike Thomson
BBC News

Nearly 60 years ago, a French town was hit by a sudden outbreak of hallucinations, which left five people dead and many seriously ill. For years it was blamed on bread contaminated with a psychedelic fungus - but that theory is now being challenged.

"It was terrible. I had the sensation of shrinking and shrinking, and the fire and the serpents coiling around my arms," he remembers.

Leon, now 87, fell off his bike and was taken to the hospital in Avignon.

He was put in a straitjacket but he shared a room with three teenagers who had been chained to their beds to keep them under control.

"Some of my friends tried to get out of the window. They were thrashing wildly... screaming, and the sound of the metal beds and the jumping up and down... the noise was terrible.

"I'd prefer to die rather than go through that again."

Over the coming days, dozens of other people in the town fell prey to similar symptoms.

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10996838

The thread title comes from the BBC's "Features & Analysis" section on their front page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

[Javaman]

1. Just read the book, "the men who stare at goats", not the crappy movie.

The book goes into detail about MK-Ultra. That was the military's foray into LSD use in the 1950's using personal as their test subjects.

It goes onto detail regarding the incident in Pont-Saint-Esprit.

The book goes into great detail regarding Frank Olsen. His son hardly knew his dad and began a personal investigation as to what exactly his dad did for the government. Especially since his dad committed "suicide" in the early 1950's.

The CIA should be dismantled lock stock and barrel.

[Turborama]

5. I saw the movie and wasn't impressed

Shame, I was expecting something better from Ronson. His documentaries are usually really good.

I was put off getting the book but am interested in getting it after your brief review, sounds very interesting.

Have you seen "Code Name: Artichoke"?

I posted a link to where you can watch it online and quite a lot of info about Olsen here, if you want to have a look: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4239870&mesg_id=4240682

[Javaman]

9. The book talks about Artichoke.

I will check out the documentary, I'm sure it goes into much more detail that the book does.

Thanks for the suggestion! :)

[MadHound]

6. Better yet, read Acid Dreams,

Excellent history of our intelligence agencies involvement with LSD and other such drugs. I also recommend you read Alfred McCoy's book The Politics of Heroin, which documents how our intelligence agencies, military and government were/are involved with opium and heroin.

[Javaman]

8. Thanks for the suggestions!

I will add them to my book list. :)

Cheers!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Probably not.

Too many holes in that theory.

[Lance_Boyle]

3. Ergot poisoning makes sense, CIA dosing bread with LSD?

Not so much sense-making there.

[LeftinOH]

4. Ergot poisoning was a recurring situation for centuries in Europe; maybe they can blame the CIA

for all those outbreaks, as well. :sarcasm:

[goforit]

7. Maybe w/o sarcassm?