According to Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain, authors of Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond, there was over a decade of legal and illegal testing of LSD by the CIA on it’s own men, from 1953-1966, when they dosed unsuspecting doctors and servicemen to see if the chemical would make an efficient brainwashing mechanism.

Like everything Bear approached in life he was totally focused on what he was doing in the present moment, consumed in the now with a singular will. And when his hearing aid kicked back onto the frequency, Bear was drawn to the sound of the unspoken thing…

Considered by many as one of the legends of the Sixties counterculture, “Bear” Owsley Stanley III denies his heroic status. Bear was a minor participant in the Acid Tests of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and supplied the acid for their events. He was the first underground cook to produce high-purity LSD in 1965 when it was legal, including the famous White Lightning and Monterey Purple, and by giving much of it away for free he helped catalyse the hippie movement