Norman Ohler: German novelist-turned-nonfiction author of Blitzed and Tripped, who works directly in archives uncovering the hidden drug history of Nazi Germany and the psychedelic age.
What this episode covers
Norman Ohler discusses his book Tripped, which traces how Nazi scientists tested psychedelics like mescaline and LSD in concentration camps, how that research passed to the American military and CIA's MK Ultra program, and why LSD was ultimately criminalized. He explains the origins of LSD at Sandoz, the prohibitionist legacy of Harry Anslinger and William Randolph Hearst, and the suppressed medical potential of psychedelics, including his own family's use of LSD and psilocybin to treat his mother's Alzheimer's. The conversation then turns to Blitzed, detailing how methamphetamine (Pervitin) fueled the German Blitzkrieg through the Ardennes. Ohler closes with a detailed account of Hitler's escalating drug use under his physician Theodor Morell, from vitamins to the opioid Eukodal (oxycodone) and cocaine, and a possible LSD link to JFK's peace speech.
The guest's own work
Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age
Norman Ohler
“this is your book it's called tripped Nazi Germany the CIA and the dawn of the Psychedelic Age”— Norman Ohler
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich
Norman Ohler
“my previous book which is called Blitz drugs in the Third Reich”— Norman Ohler
Stone Sapiens
Norman Ohler
“that's what I intend to change with my book Stone sapiens which will be the next book and kind of conclude the trilogy”— Norman Ohler
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
“that's when he had the idea for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest um which made him so much money”— Norman Ohler
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
“I heard that Jack kirak wrote on the road like in two weeks on amphetamines”— Norman Ohler
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick
“do Android Dream of Electric Sheep um is that Philip K dick yeah right he was using a lot of amphetamines”— Norman Ohler
Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry
“as a child I watched a Star Trek it was a TV an American TV show even on German television it was called RI Enterprise in German”— Norman Ohler
Reefer Madness
“the reer madness movies which are fantastic pieces of propaganda they're absolutely hilarious if you watch them today”— Joe Rogan
Pervitin
Temmler
“it was branded as pervitin pertin we say in German there it is there is p there's ptin”— Norman Ohler
Captagon
“had used Capon which is um another form of meth that's a brand name that's very popular actually in the in the Middle East”— Norman Ohler
Eukodal (oxycodone)
Merck
“a German drug called o codal and um it's quite interesting ooal was made by the Merk company which is still a pharmaceutical giant today”— Norman Ohler
Big reveals from this episode
- Ohler found a smoking-gun 1943 letter showing Sandos shipped ergotamine, the precursor to LSD, to Nazi biochemist Richard Kuhn.
- The CIA's Sidney Gottlieb flew to Basel with a suitcase of cash to buy Sandoz's entire world supply of LSD for MK Ultra.
- German army ordered 35 million doses of Pervitin (methamphetamine) just before the invasion of France.
- Tank troops were kept on meth through the entire three-day push through the Ardennes, enabling the Blitzkrieg.
- Hitler's favorite drug Eukodal was oxycodone, made by Merck, the same opioid behind the American opioid crisis.
- On cocaine, Hitler devised the doomed second Ardennes offensive while Morell supplied oxycodone, a 'doctor's war' speedball.
- Timothy Leary's autobiography claims Mary Pinchot Meyer obtained LSD from him to give to JFK before his 1963 peace speech.
- Ohler's family gave his Alzheimer's-stricken mother LSD and a piece of mushroom chocolate, after which she picked up a newspaper and read headlines for the first time in a year.
Worth remembering
- LSD is not fully synthetic; it derives from ergot, a poisonous fungus that grows on rye and caused mass medieval hallucinations.
- Sandoz built an 'intoxication room' (Rausch) in their conservative Swiss lab where secretaries and chemists took LSD and reported feeling connected to humanity.
- Harry Anslinger coined the foreign-sounding word 'marijuana' and targeted jazz musicians to revive his failing Federal Bureau of Narcotics.
- Hearst demonized cannabis partly to protect his paper mills from hemp, the 'new billion dollar crop' enabled by the decorticator machine.
- Under psychedelics the brain's 'default mode network' (the ego) gets less energy while neuroplasticity increases.
- Tests showed meth keeps soldiers awake but makes them worse at complex thinking, which Ranke deemed ideal for an obedient soldier.
- French soldiers had a right to 3/4 liter of red wine per day, leaving them drowsy while methed-up Germans charged through.
- Hitler ate mostly bread and sugar as a vegetarian, causing chronic bloating that Morell first treated with probiotics and vitamins.
- Morell got a monopoly on all the organs from slaughterhouses in occupied Ukraine to make hormone concoctions for Hitler.
- British intelligence decided NOT to assassinate Hitler because his drug-addled decisions were helping the Allies win.