The Psychedelic Prophets · Episode 10
The CIA and the Clinic
PASTE THIS AS YOUR NOTEBOOKLM SOURCE DOCUMENT.
Episode 10 of "The Psychedelic Prophets", Storming Heaven. The episode covers: what the clinical research actually showed before 1968; what MK-Ultra was actually trying to do and why it failed; the Leary-Osmond split and its political consequences; and what the second wave has learned from the first.
PRIMARY SOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE:
Storming Heaven (1987): Chapters 1-5, 14-18
Church Committee Final Report (1976): the primary source on MK-Ultra
Krebs & Johansen, Journal of Psychopharmacology (2012): a meta-analysis of six 1960s randomized trials of LSD for alcoholism
FDA complete response letter on the MDMA-assisted therapy application (August 2024): the document that shows the second wave is not yet past its own version of the backlash
EPISODE FOCUS QUESTIONS:
1. What did the clinical research actually show before 1968, and how does it compare to the second wave?
2. What was MK-Ultra actually trying to do, and why did LSD fail as a mind control agent?
3. Was Leary wrong about the substances or wrong about the strategy?
4. What has the second wave learned from the first? What has it failed to learn?
5. Is the 2024 FDA rejection of MDMA a 1968 repeat or a genuine methodological problem?
Source material pending review. The sources this brief names are listed below.
Sources
- Stevens, Storming Heaven (1987)
- Church Committee Final Report (1976)
- Krebs & Johansen, J Psychopharmacol (2012)
- FDA complete response letter on the MDMA-assisted therapy application (August 2024)
Focus questions
- 1What did the first wave of clinical research actually find?
- 2Was Leary wrong about the substances or wrong about the strategy?
- 3What has the second wave learned from the first, and what has it failed to learn?
- 4Is the 2024 FDA MDMA rejection a political decision or a genuine methodological concern?