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Woodstock

Woodstock Ventures The Woodstock Music Festival was the brainchild of four men, all age 27 or younger, looking for an investment opportunity: John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld and Michael Lang. Lang had organized the successful Miami Music Festival in 1968 and Kornfeld was the youngest vice president at Capitol Records. Roberts and Rosenman were […]

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2017 Events

Politics Trump’s inauguration: After a divisive election season, Donald Trump officially became the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017. In a 16-minute inaugural address (the shortest since Jimmy Carter‘s in 1977), Trump repeated his “America First” campaign slogan in which he delivered a dark-toned nationalist, populist message. The slogan “America First” […]

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Gottlieb Testifies On CIA Drug Program American scientist Sidney Gottlieb (1918 - 1999, left), retired head of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret drug testing program, Project MKUltra, during his testimony to the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research in Washington DC, 21st September 1977. The Senate Subcommittee, headed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, is investigating the C.I.A.'s testing of drugs on human subjects without their knowledge. Gottlieb is testifying in closed session under a grant of immunity from prosecution. With him is his attorney, Terry Lenzner. (Photo by Bride Lane Library/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

MK-Ultra

The Cold War and Project MK-Ultra In the 1950s and 1960s—the height of the Cold War—the United States government feared that Soviet, Chinese and North Korean agents were using mind control to brainwash U.S. prisoners of war in Korea. In response, Allan Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), approved Project MK-Ultra in 1953. […]

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A woman dances in the glow of psychedelic light at Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

LSD

Albert Hofmann and Bicycle Day Albert Hofmann, a researcher with the Swiss chemical company Sandoz, first developed lysergic acid diethylamide or LSD in 1938. He was working with a chemical found in ergot, a fungus that grows naturally on rye and other grains. Hofmann didn’t discover the drug’s hallucinogenic effects until 1943 when he accidentally […]

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Stories

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John Jacob Astor

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America’s First Multimillionaire Got Rich Smuggling Opium

John Jacob Astor fed a growing international addiction—and helped fuel a 19th-century opioid crisis.

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The Complicated History of Cannabis in the US

American colonists were once encouraged to grow and cultivate cannabis for hemp, but it all changed when the plant’s more “medicinal” uses were discovered.

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Two U.S. soldiers in Vietnam exchanging vials of heroin. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

G.I.s’ Drug Use in Vietnam Soared—With Their Commanders’ Help

Substance abuse in the Vietnam War wasn’t just limited to the marijuana and heroin enlistees could buy on the black market. Military commanders also heavily prescribed pills to help improve soldiers’ performance.

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A poster for Stanley Donen's 1952 comedy 'Singin' in the Rain' starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. (Credit: Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images)

Golden Age Hollywood Had a Dirty Little Secret: Drugs

Many memorable performances were fueled by “pep pills.”

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This Day in History


2014

‘El Chapo,’ the world’s most-wanted drug kingpin, is captured in Mexico

Crime
1943

Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered

Inventions & Science
1979

Sid Vicious dies of a drug overdose in New York City

Art, Literature and Film History
1979

Anthrax poisoning kills 62 in Russia

Crime
1949

Evidence found against French serial killer known as “The Queen of Poisoners”

Crime
1990

Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry arrested on drug charges

Crime
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