James S. Ketchum

From 1955 to 1975, the US Army used its own soldiers as human guinea pigs in research involving powerful, mind-altering drugs. Told through exclusive footage and first-hand accounts, this is the true story of one of the darkest chapters in US history.

By coincidence rather than by design, the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann makes a sensational discovery in the spring of 1943. He realizes that he is dealing with a powerful molecule that will have an impact that reaches far beyond the scientific world. THE SUBSTANCE is an investigation into our troubled relationship with LSD, told from its beginnings to today.

Short film created for the Department of Defense documents a test, code-named Project DORK, which was intended to determine if an aerosol of the delirium-inducing BZ could incapacitate soldiers at distances of 500–1000 yards.