GUEST BLOG: Building a History: Uncovering the Unethical Research for Mind Control in Lexington, Kentucky

What does justice look like when we remember the harms caused to Black men and their communities through unethical psychedelic experiments done by the CIA?

written by Sheldomar Elliott, BA & Lianna Tullis-Robinson, MA

Did you know that Black men were experimented on for decades in search of a mind control drug? From 1947 to 1974, incarcerated Black men and other vulnerable inpatient populations were used and exploited in research studies held at the Addictions Research Center (ARC) in Lexington, Kentucky. These studies were funded by the CIA for their MK Ultra project in search of a substance that could be useful in warfare to disarm one’s disobedience. Trust us – the research studies are as horrific as they sound – but before we delve into the gritty details of what took place, let’s talk about how a group of Black researchers happened upon this hidden and critically overlooked history of unethical abuse that took place during the first wave of psychedelic science. 

The 2019 Lexington Workshop: A Catalyst for Investigation

In 2019, Dr. Monnica Williams facilitated a two-part workshop at an MDMA conference in Lexington, Kentucky, for therapists in communities of color, focused on psychedelic medicine and racial trauma, as well as MDMA training for clinicians. However, there was one problem: no local attendees showed up. 

Rumours spread by the locals suggested that folks in the Lexington community were not interested in joining these workshops, as they recalled abusive drug studies that happened decades earlier that left a painful and lasting effect on them and their community. This prompted Dr. Williams, Dana Strauss, and others (2022) to investigate the research abuses that took place at the Addiction Research Center (also known as ARC) in Lexington, Kentucky, from the 1940s to 1970s. Their work uncovered several unethical and brutal experiments performed on Black men and other vulnerable populations under the MK Ultra program. 

The Addictions Research Center (ARC) and the MK Ultra Project

In the mid-20th century, Lexington was home to ARC, a U.S. public health service facility that was later overseen by the National Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA), which doubled as both a prison and a hospital, where Black men and other vulnerable populations were sent for drug rehabilitation. However, underneath the guise of helping those struggling with addiction, the CIA was secretly using this location as one of more than 80 different places as a testing ground for their new MK Ultra project to develop new bioweapons amidst rising tensions during the Cold War era. Through the secret and highly illegal administration of LSD to unwitting individuals, the CIA wanted to learn whether the drugs would result in loss of speech, loss of sensitivity to pain, loss of memory, loss of willpower and ultimately, a substance that would allow them to control and deprogram the minds of those they wished to.

When we consider that the total population of people of color in Kentucky was about 14% at the time, but these folks made up over 66% of the experimental population at ARC, we can begin to understand the racial disparities associated with the abuse that had taken place. Participants were often unethically uninformed before being sentenced to horrific drug trials, subjecting people to experiments with LSD and other drugs. They were never consulted about the drugs or dosages they were being given, forced to endure harrowing pain in environments that were not conducive to their wellbeing, all while being dehumanized and objectified by the researchers and doctors conducting these experiments. Many studies administered psychedelics at levels dangerous even by today’s standards. For example, one study (Isbel et al., 1956) gave Black participants more than double the dose of LSD (180 μg) compared to White participants (75 μg). The White participants underwent just 8 days of LSD administration, but Black participants endured chronic administration of LSD for up to 85 days. One Black participant, after suffering a “very severe” reaction to a high dose, expressed a wish to drop out, but was then persuaded by researchers to continue, and then given daily LSD until again receiving 180 μg after three weeks of chronic intoxication (Strauss et al., 2022). 

Black participants were deliberately singled out for more hazardous, prolonged, and higher-dose experiments. In one study, all Black subjects not only received higher doses, but also endured much longer exposure and more severe reactions (Monroe et al., 1957). Researchers documented these effects with clinical detachment—reporting on participants’ “toilet habits” and “eroticism” as if they were animals, making no effort to address their suffering or even basic humanity. This detachment extended further, as researchers described one Black participant as “of low intelligence,” thereby justifying their heinous behavior of tying this participant down during LSD administration, even as he begged for relief. Instead of showing compassion, this Black participant was subjected to the highest and most dangerous combinations of drugs (Monroe et al., 1957; Strauss et al., 2022).

Without a doubt, these individuals were severely abused and suffered lasting impacts of physical, psychological, and emotional trauma that can be felt even today. A testimony by Edward Flowers, a victim of the CIA trials at ARC, illustrates exactly that. He went on record in the 70s to describe feeling used and taken advantage of, as it was only after congressional hearings that he was able to piece together what happened to him and understand the ARC experiments as exploitative. He expressed many bouts of anger, bitterness, and betrayal, which highlight the lasting impacts of trauma caused by these unethical experiments.

The levels of trauma inflicted on these vulnerable populations are unimaginable—not only from the effects of the substances themselves, but also from the enduring racist and harmful treatment by those from whom they were supposed to receive support. Now is a critical time to ask ourselves: Who is helping to address and mediate the impact of these injustices.

U.S. Narcotic Farm in Lexington, Kentucky

The Broader Pattern: Medical Racism and Systemic Abuse

The unfortunate reality is that the abuses that happened at ARC are just another instance in the ongoing history of medical racism in U.S. healthcare and research. From the Tuskegee Syphilis study from the 1930s-70s, which saw the intentional withhold of treating Black men and forced sterilizations of Black women, medical science has repeatedly treated Black bodies as disposable. The experiments at ARC serve as a reminder of the broader pattern of Black Americans being denied agency and subjected to non-consensual trials that were not used for their benefit. This legacy has contributed to the deep-seated mistrust in medical and psychedelic research happening today, as we can see at that 2019 conference that catalyzed this uncovering of a hidden past.

The legacy of exploitation and abuse has had lasting consequences for BIPOC engagement in psychedelic research and therapy. Despite the growing interest in psychedelics for treating anxiety, depression, and PTSD, Black Americans continue to be significantly underrepresented in clinical trials. Barriers to this include financial constraints, exclusionary recruitment practices, and the ongoing historical mistrust associated with research participation.

Contemporary studies also reveal that people of color are highly underrepresented in psychedelic research and PAP (George et al., 2019; Smith et al., 2022), with less than 3% of participants in recent trials being Black (Michaels et al., 2018). This underrepresentation is compounded by cultural mistrust, stemming from historical and ongoing experiences of systemic oppression and unethical treatment in medical and psychological research (Taylor & Kuo, 2019; Ahn et al., 2023). The lack of Black representation in these studies further exemplifies the historical blindness towards unique sociocultural factors that shape mental health outcomes in Black communities, further perpetuating disparities in accessing supports that should be culturally safe and relevant. 

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that cultural differences and mistrust also present significant barriers to BIPOC participation in both traditional psychotherapy and PAP. BIPOC clients often perceive psychological services as culturally incongruent or potentially harmful, leading to lower rates of engagement (Meyer & Zane, 2013). The fusion of indigenous healing practices with Eurocentric psychotherapeutic models in PAP further complicates these dynamics, necessitating culturally sensitive and inclusive approaches (Bedi, 2021).

Without intentional efforts to rectify past harms, psychedelic research risks continuing the same patterns of exclusion and exploitation. Thus, by centering Black communities and advocating for systemic change, we are developing a study that aims to ensure that the next era of psychedelic science is truly just and inclusive.

Our Response: Community-Based Participatory ResearcH

This leads us to our research project – a community-based participatory approach aimed at addressing and rectifying these research injustices committed at the ARC by interviewing those most affected to understand and empower their unique perspectives. We hope to gather better insights on the details of what happened during that time and how – and to what extent – these individuals and communities have been impacted. Additionally, the study will emphasize what these communities would like to be seen in bringing justice to light, and what would make them feel safe in a research or therapy setting with psychedelics.

Traditional research often views communities as ‘subjects’ rather than partners, reinforcing power imbalances that mirror past harms​. By taking a community-based participatory research approach to this, we aim to repair these relationships by co-creating knowledge with impacted communities, ensuring that research aligns with their needs and priorities. It also ensures that contextual factors—such as intergenerational trauma, cultural mistrust, and racial disparities in access to care—are central to the research process.

This means our study is co-led by Black community leaders, researchers, and mental health therapists who have firsthand knowledge of the issues we are investigating. This way, instead of defining the study objectives, this method involves community members as equal partners in research design, data collection, and interpretation.

As a team, our aim is to help provide a sense of validation, closure, and healing for these families and their communities. Recognizing that researchers and the U.S. government have largely ignored these abuses, we hope that this will inform cultural considerations for research and therapy and improve access and quality of mental health care for communities of color. Additionally, by empowering the victims of these abuses, this work could help the field of psychedelic research move in a more equitable direction. 

As we are all well aware, psychedelic research sits at a crossroads where one path continues to ignore its history of racial exploitation, and the other actively reckons with the past to create an ethical and just future. True healing in psychedelic science is not just about the substances we use—it’s about the systems we build. This research underscores the urgent need for reparative justice in psychedelic science by acknowledging and addressing past abuses against Black communities. 

In partnership with the University of Ottawa, we are a group of Black researchers who are running our own study to listen to how the individuals and families have been impacted by these unethical research investigations. We are open to sponsorships which support the success of our research project. If you are interested in a collaboration or partnership, please feel free to connect with us using the form here.

If you are interested in learning more about this study, how you can get involved, or participate, we invite you to sign up for the information sessions we will be leading throughout the month of May. Use the link here to access the registration form and pick a date that works best for you. 

If you have any questions or would like to contact us directly, you can reach Sheldomar Elliott at selli074@uottawa.ca and Lianna Tullis-Robinson at ltull093@uottawa.ca. 

References

Ahn, J. Y., Bedi, R. P., Choubisa, R., & Ruparel, N. (2023). Assessing psychotherapy as a western healing practice through prediction of help-seeking attitudes. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2023.2173147

Bedi, R. P. (2018). Racial, ethnic, cultural, and national disparities in counseling and psychotherapy outcome are inevitable but eliminating global mental health disparities with indigenous healing is not. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6(1), 96–104. https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000047

George, J. R., Michaels, T. I., Sevelius, J., & Williams, M. T. (2019). The psychedelic renaissance and the limitations of a White-dominant medical framework: A call for indigenous and ethnic minority inclusion. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 4(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1556/2054.2019.015

Isbell, H., Wolbach, A. B., Wikler, A., & Miner, E. J. (1961). Cross tolerance between LSD and psilocybin. Psychopharmacologia, 2(1), 147-159. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407974

Meyer, O. L., & Zane, N. (2013). THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND ETHNICITY IN CLIENTS’ EXPERIENCES OF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT. Journal of Community Psychology, 41(7), 884–901. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21580

Michaels, T. I., Purdon, J., Collins, A., & Williams, M. T. (2018). Inclusion of people of color in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: A review of the literature. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 245. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1824-6

Monroe, R. R., Heath, R. G., Mickle, W. A., & Llewellyn, R. C. (1957). Correlation of rhinencephalic electrograms with behavior: a study of humans under the influence of LSD and mescaline. Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 9(4), 623-642.

Smith, D. T., Faber, S. C., Buchanan, N. T., Foster, D., & Green, L. (2022). The Need for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in the Black Community and the Burdens of Its Provision. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 774736. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.774736

Strauss, D., De La Salle, S., Sloshower, J., & Williams, M. T. (2022). Research abuses against people of colour and other vulnerable groups in early psychedelic research. Journal of Medical Ethics, 48(10), 728–737. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107262

Taylor, R. E., & Kuo, B. C. H. (2019). Black American psychological help-seeking intention: An integrated literature review with recommendations for clinical practice. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 29(4), 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1037/int0000131