Curiousone
Banned
So in modern warfare Psychedelic chemicals are part of the potential armory of combatants. Case in point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-quinuclidinyl_benzilate or 'BZ'.
These have all essentially been developed after WW2, the interest came after the invention of LSD in 1938 & accidental self-dosage by the inventor, introduction of knowledge about their importance to the medical profession.
There are other chemicals which have identical (to the subject) effects to LSD existing in nature however, discovery of their importance could well have been up to individual encounters.
One example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_cacti has been traditionally favoured by Native Americans.
The scenario that occurred to me about how it might be used goes along lines such as:
An American veteran of the Great War returns with his nerves wrecked from the combat. He hits the bottle, ends up as a drifter. On his down & out travels he comes across a user of Psychedelics in the Mid-West. He doesn't understand the experience at first & takes it as a religious one. Thankfully by chance it's a good trip & our young man receives a therapeutic effect. He ditches the bottle & is convinced of the need for peace, that all men are brothers.
Piecing his life back together he gathers a moderate amount of resources by the time the Great Depression strikes. Seeing Europe re-arm he feels he's been given the religious experience for a reason, that he must share it with the world. Hiring a Chemist, he synthesizes an amount of the material (not illegal at the time) & seeks out an old comrade from the trenches that stayed in the military for advice on a practical battlefield dispersal method. Finding no audience in the U.S he travels to Britain in the late-30's, speaks of a way of fighting war without generating casualties, asks to conduct a demonstration. It's begrudgingly permitted, the political situation is getting worse & the generals don't want to be caught off guard by new technologies.
Some 'volunteers' are handed out drinks & set some tasks in a practice field.
The results are thus (actual video of British tests of LSD on soldiers):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX7m4fqTLKU
The officers are astounded. A way of avoiding the horror & tragedy of the great war, a new humane method of waging war has appeared. Classified reports are passed up the line.
One comes across the desk of Churchill. He asks if it can be tied into a strategic bombing theories.
Speculate/fiddle with it if you need to for it to be plausible for you from here (for anyone who thinks it's too far out to be tried, consider the Bat Bomb, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAv8G8jfuGQ):
These have all essentially been developed after WW2, the interest came after the invention of LSD in 1938 & accidental self-dosage by the inventor, introduction of knowledge about their importance to the medical profession.
There are other chemicals which have identical (to the subject) effects to LSD existing in nature however, discovery of their importance could well have been up to individual encounters.
One example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_cacti has been traditionally favoured by Native Americans.
The scenario that occurred to me about how it might be used goes along lines such as:
An American veteran of the Great War returns with his nerves wrecked from the combat. He hits the bottle, ends up as a drifter. On his down & out travels he comes across a user of Psychedelics in the Mid-West. He doesn't understand the experience at first & takes it as a religious one. Thankfully by chance it's a good trip & our young man receives a therapeutic effect. He ditches the bottle & is convinced of the need for peace, that all men are brothers.
Piecing his life back together he gathers a moderate amount of resources by the time the Great Depression strikes. Seeing Europe re-arm he feels he's been given the religious experience for a reason, that he must share it with the world. Hiring a Chemist, he synthesizes an amount of the material (not illegal at the time) & seeks out an old comrade from the trenches that stayed in the military for advice on a practical battlefield dispersal method. Finding no audience in the U.S he travels to Britain in the late-30's, speaks of a way of fighting war without generating casualties, asks to conduct a demonstration. It's begrudgingly permitted, the political situation is getting worse & the generals don't want to be caught off guard by new technologies.
Some 'volunteers' are handed out drinks & set some tasks in a practice field.
The results are thus (actual video of British tests of LSD on soldiers):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX7m4fqTLKU
The officers are astounded. A way of avoiding the horror & tragedy of the great war, a new humane method of waging war has appeared. Classified reports are passed up the line.
One comes across the desk of Churchill. He asks if it can be tied into a strategic bombing theories.
Speculate/fiddle with it if you need to for it to be plausible for you from here (for anyone who thinks it's too far out to be tried, consider the Bat Bomb, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAv8G8jfuGQ):
