Human Rights A Day

The U.S. CIA settled out of court with “brain-washed” Canadians. Did the U.S.’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finance “brain-washing” experiments during the 1950s and 1960s? When nine Canadians accused the CIA of that, observers were surprised by the agency’s unprecedented willingness to settle out of court. The nine plaintiffs were among 50 patients subjected to experiments involving drugs such as LSD, electro-shocks, sensory deprivation and isolation. They were all under the care of Dr. Ewan Cameron of the Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal. And none knew they were part of CIA experiments involving mind-control programs that might benefit agents’ understanding of interrogation. On October 4, 1988, just days before the CIA was to go to trial, the agency agreed to pay $750,000 US to its accusers, while accepting no liability in the settlement. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.