“Obscure and Unknown: Deliriants of the Edgewood Arsenal Human Experiments”, 2020-06-08 (; backlinks; similar):
The Edgewood Arsenal Human Experiments were a series of classified studies conducted by the US Army at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland 1955–20197549ya. A wide variety of chemical weapon applications and protections were tested, including the use of psychoactive agents. Unlike MKUltra, which was tested on many people without their consent, the Edgewood Arsenal Experiments were tested on volunteer army personnel. They were not however, prepared for the horrors they would be exposed to. The psychoactive compounds tested in these experiments include a variety of familiar chemicals like LSD, PCP, and various synthetic cannabinoids. Of particular interest however, are anticholinergics that were tested, better known as deliriants, a class of chemicals notorious for inducing hallucinations through a psychosis-like state, where the user has difficulty distinguishing hallucinations from reality.
Some of the deliriants that were tested will be detailed below. Almost all of the information on them comes from a series of summary reports on the experiments published by the National Academy of Medicine from 1982–3198539ya, along with a detailed Memoir by one of the lead scientists behind the project Dr. James S. Ketchum. All of them except BZ were invented for the purpose of being studied and are only known by a codename “EA” (For Edgewood Arsenal) followed by 4 numbers. We will specifically look at BZ, EA-3443, EA-3580, EA-3834, and EA-3167. The effects of these extremely potent drugs are remarkable and terrifying.
…EA-3167 was most notable for its extreme duration, unlike that of any other psychoactive known of any class. Incapacitating effects could last anywhere from 5–10 days, which could sometimes present as a full 3 day long peak of vivid hallucinations, along with drawn out confusion, amnesia, and inhibition of speech and cognition4. Some subjects would not fully recover for almost 20 days4. After two weeks the symptoms experienced by subjects included:
“included increased irritability; mild impairment of memory, judgment, or abstraction; mental sluggishness with occasional confusion; nervousness; and tenseness.”1
Even 6 months later, a few of the subjects exposed to higher doses demonstrated:
“significant increases in the scores on the hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, and mania scales”
Subjects would often have to be exposed to drawn out and extreme cumulative doses of physostigmine (which can be toxic itself at high doses) to stave off lasting delirium4.
…The potency of EA-3167 was in the range of other deliriants studied when given intramuscularly, 4.1 μg/kg (254 μg in an average person)1. The power of this chemical is astounding-around a quarter of a milligram is enough to induce a 10 day marathon of incapacitated delirium, with at least 3 days of full blown delirious hallucinations. That such a compound can exist and that it is even possible to affect the human mind in that way is utterly terrifying.