A psychochemical weapon considered by the Warsaw Pact: a research note.
Contrary to widespread rumours during the Cold War era, little, if any, evidence existed in the scientific literature to support the view that the Soviet Union or its Warsaw Pact allies considered the use of psychochemical weapons militarily. The Hungarian State Archives have recently opened up declassified records of Hungary's State Defence Council meetings held between 1962 and 1978. Materials submitted to the Council include reports about the coordinative meetings of the Warsaw Pact military medical services. Research into possible countermeasures against psychotropic drugs is listed as a research priority assigned to Hungary in 1962. Hungary rejected this task in 1963, but joined the ongoing project again in 1965. Methylamphetamine was produced in Budapest for use as an experimental model of such weapons. Within the context of contemporary western research, this drug was considered to be an effective interrogation tool. Similarly to the CIA, Hungary also failed to develop an antidote against it and the project was terminated, fruitlessly, in 1972. These documents serve as evidence that a Warsaw Pact forum had, in fact, been considering a psychochemical weapon as a "warfare agent."
Rózsa
Lajos
L
Collegium Budapest, Institute for Advanced Study, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. rozsa@nhmus.hu
D002618:Chemical Warfare / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D008694:Methamphetamine; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D012106:Research / Q000266:history*
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D008694:Methamphetamine