Tripped: The Connection Between LSD, Nazi Germany, and MKUltra

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Tripped: The Connection Between LSD, Nazi Germany, and MKUltra

September 27, 2024

Featuring: Norman Ohler

Researching the true history of substances deemed illegal can lead to surprising results. In the case of LSD, does its history include a connection between Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the roots of MKUltra?

In this episode, Joe interviews Norman Ohler: award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and journalist.

Following in the footsteps of Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich, his newest book, Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age, tells the story of how the Nazi’s passion for methamphetamine turned into a curiosity about LSD, and how their experiments with trying to harness LSD as a truth drug eventually led to the CIA continuing their research under their MKUltra program. The book came about from trying to understand why LSD never became medicine – a question posed by his father, when discussing how LSD could help with his wife’s progressing Alzheimer’s symptoms.

He discusses:

His path to becoming a “gonzo historian” and how his early psychedelic research was inspired by a friend’s discovery of methamphetamine tablets from the 40s
Henry Beecher’s LSD experiments with students at Harvard, and how researchers often didn’t know they were contributing to MKUltra
His recent appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience and Jesse Watters Primetime
His mother’s experience with microdosing LSD and why police showed up at his father’s door with a warrant
Why he believes psychedelics will be legalized in the U.S. in the next 10 years

and more!