Ep 1. Acid, Spies & Secret Experiments

In the first episode of America's War on Drugs season 1, titled "Acid, Spies & Secret Experiments," the viewers are taken on a journey back to the 1940s and 1950s when the United States government secretly embarked on a program combining LSD experiments with mind control in an effort to win the Cold War. The episode is narrated by renowned journalist and author Dean Olsher, who uncovers the dark and obscure history of American intelligence agencies' experimentation with psychedelics and their alleged contribution to the proliferation of drug addiction in the country.

Through interviews with former CIA officers, historians, and journalists, the episode examines the covert program known as Operation MK-Ultra that was established by the CIA to counter the perceived communist threat during the peak of the Cold War. As a part of the program, the USA government tested the effects of LSD and other mind-altering substances on unsuspecting human subjects in scenarios ranging from the laboratory to the battlefield. The viewers hear firsthand accounts from people who were involved in the program either as participants or researchers, as well as stories from whistle-blowers who revealed the existence of the program, at great personal risk.

In addition to the dark history of LSD experiments, the episode also explores the societal changes and upheavals that LSD brought to America in the 60s and 70s. The viewers are transported to the iconic Woodstock music festival, where the drug was consumed en masse, and to the campuses of UC Berkeley, where LSD's effects were studied and celebrated by radical students. The connection between counterculture movements and the "war on drugs" launched by the Nixon administration is also explored. The episode lays out a fascinating narrative of how the CIA experimented with LSD to make people more susceptible to interrogation, emotional manipulation, and behavior control, and how these experiments set the stage for a national conversation about drugs that is still ongoing.

The use of archival footage from the period, as well as graphics that illustrate the historical context, heightens the viewers' engagement with the story, and the reenactments of the experiments give a chilling effect as to what was actually happening during the LSD experiments conducted by the CIA. The documentary asks important questions about the morality of government-funded mind control programs and the extent to which they contributed to drug epidemics in the United States.

Overall, "Acid, Spies & Secret Experiments" is a gripping episode that delves into the secretive world of government intelligence and the human cost of programs like MK-Ultra. The episode leaves the viewers with a thought-provoking question: If the government is using drugs to control minds and behaviors, who is ultimately responsible for the havoc that they wreak? And is it worth it in the end?