AlsoTapered
Bluelighter
It’s definitely an interesting subject, people in government had some pretty wacky theories about these substances at one time
If you consider the goals of MKUltra, the people funding it were open to any idea whatsoever.
In science, the axiom is generally 'a bold claim must be substantiated with strong evidence' but these people didn't need ANY evidence. Anyone with a bold hypothesis would more than likely be granted funding.
The reality is we will never know the extent of the damage because funding for some of the more controversial work was indirect.
About the only firm outcome was that drugs were of little value because the accuracy of a given statement proved to be inversely related to how messed up the person was giving said statement.
I'm sure it forwarded the cause of 'enhanced interrogation' and certainly the Soviets also discovered that barbiturates and similar were effective in messing up a person's circadian rhythm (someone awaking couldn't tell if they had been out for 10 minutes or 10 hours) but it provided only tiny gains at the expense of many lives.