There is a lot of notable history in the province of Saskatchewan, but did you know that it’s also a focal point of some of the largest conspiracy theories in the world? Today we are not going to make accusations or come up with theories, but simply point out some facts that some people might not think about when remembering the Weyburn Mental Hospital and it’s practices.

The Souris Valley Mental Health Hospital[1], originally called the Saskatchewan hospital when it opened in 1921, was considered to be one of the most prestigious hospitals in it’s time. Some of its recreational therapy was a lot more light hearted, but a condition of staying in the hospital was that you also had to hold a full time job at the hospital, as well as other strenuous activities that are proven to not help psychiatric patients.[2] It held over 2,500 patients and ran it’s own newspaper. The doctors and employees were forefront, and sometimes test subjects themselves[3], in the treatment of many mental disorders including schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism, and so on. The treatments would seem barbaric today, but the experimentation with LSD, mescaline, electro shock therapy, insulin overdose, hydrotherapy, and even lobotomies were making incredible breakthroughs in medicine that changed mental health as we know it. Professionals from across the world raved over the doctors’ research, and it even caught the CIA’s eye.

The team consisted of Dr. Humphry Osmond[4], Dr. Abram Hoffer[5], and several others. Osmond being from England, and Hoffer a Canadian. Hoffer obtained his first degree at the University of Saskatchewan, and then finished his venture in education at the University of Toronto with a doctorate of medicine. Osmond was a surgeon lieutenant in the Navy during WWII, and while doing so he trained to be a psychiatrist. He also coined the word ‘psychedelic’[6] and was a very big fan of the drugs that caused the effect. After the war, Osmond moved to Weyburn with his friend John Smythies, who was a neuroscientist that also helped contribute to the research done at the hospital. In the hospital, Osmond, Canadian Special Services agent and millionaire Al Hubbard[7], and his team of scientists conducted large amounts of research and experimentation on how LSD and other psychedelics affected the brain. All research was funded by the Canadian government and the Rockefeller foundation, the goal being a cure for schizophrenia.

Among the people Osmond supervised and experimented on was author Aldous Huxley[8]. Osmond was one of Aldous Huxley’s family doctors, and at the time there were a lot of conspiracies surrounding Huxley and his involvement with the government. Specifically with people like H.G. Wells and Allen Dulles, both names that any conspiracist would have a field day about. In 1953, Osmond gave Huxley mescaline. Throughout their friendship, they wrote letters to each other, where Osmond came up with the word ‘psychedelic’ while high, himself. Cute.

You might be thinking now where Osmond was getting such a large supply of psychedelics. A year prior to giving Huxley mescaline, the Montreal branch of Sandoz sent the Weyburn hospital a package of LSD and started supplying the doctors with these drugs[9]. Sandoz is a German-based pharmaceutical company that branches out all over the world. At the time of these experiments, a CIA project started in 1953 called MK Ultra, which continued well into the 70s. MK Ultra was research based; focusing on mind control, brainwashing techniques, and psychological torture, all with the use of LSD[10], it was no surprise that the hospital in Weyburn had access to such drugs with such close ties. A sister project of MK Ultra called MK Ultra subproject 68 was also being held at McGill University from 1957 to 1964, which victims have since been compensated for their trauma.[11] Dr. Cameron, who was leading the research in this sister project, had the same intentions as Dr. Osmond – curing schizophrenia. He claims he did not know the research was being funded by the CIA, even though he was paid $69,000 to carry out the project.[12] Another notable piece of history is that Tommy Douglas enacted his Medicare in Saskatchewan in 1962, and nationally in 1966. Deinstitutionalization was carried out forcefully in 1964, making the number of patients staying at the hospital in Weyburn drop at an alarming rate.[13]

These people were very passionate about their acid, a lot of them thinking it was the greatest discovery of mankind. It became an obsession. Osmond and Hoffer did a lot of work with Al Hubbard. Hubbard was an extremely interesting man, he was called the ‘Johnny Appleseed of LSD’. A legitimate criminal, his crimes and cleverness were noticed by the OSS and was then put to work for the government. As an investigation arose, he fled the situation and moved to Vancouver, becoming a Canadian citizen. He became a millionaire there, which prompted Harry Truman to provide him a presidential pardon. He was involved in work with the Canadian Special Services, the U.S. Justice Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and of course, was rumoured to be apart of the MK Ultra projects. Al was the one that introduced a lot of the scientists to LSD. I guess you could say his nickname rang true.[14]

There was a whole lot of them, and they all hung out and did LSD together, even years after the more intense research stopped.[15] The way Osmond talked about it, it seemed as though he was against the production of LSD for money. Any psychiatrist could probably figure out that the reason behind this was because of his usage of LSD and the way it changed his perception of the world. He was more interested in the cure for illness. Were his intentions true? Did he flip off the government and organize his own extensive research for the greater good? Or was the CIA using him for his information? Worst case scenario, the Weyburn Asylum was a gigantic, controlled environment for the biggest MK Ultra experiments ever, torturing up to 3,000 people at a time. Unfortunately, no one will ever know except the people who were there, because all of the associated records for MK Ultra were destroyed in 1973 by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb. The only way to know for sure is if Gottlieb was in contact with Hubbard or Osmond. Time will tell, or maybe it never will.

Chelsea Bleau 2017