Lab Notes from an Unintentional BZ Experience
by Dr. James A. Moore
Introduction by Keith H.
Published by Erowid.org Oct 15, 2011 — v1.0
The following pages are from a lab notebook detailing the synthesis of the dissociative dysphoriant BZ (3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate).
It includes notes from an accidental ingestion of the substance by chemist Dr. James Moore in 1962. The introduction was written by a student of Dr. Moore’s.
I knew Dr. James Moore at the University of Delaware while I was a student there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I don’t recall how I learned of his connection to the CIA. It wasn’t something he seemed particularly proud of nor did he seem to regret it. It was just a part of his past that he did not mind talking about it when asked. I suspect most people who knew him never heard about it. Dr. Moore was the classic chemist. I remember him in the lab swirling a flask in one hand and drinking water from a Pyrex lab beaker in the other—not considering for a minute the risk he was taking. He was kind and witty, with a droll wit that I loved. During one of our conversations in his office discussing his CIA days, he pulled a notebook off the shelf and showed me the experiments scanned below. I was fascinated and asked if I could photocopy them. Any young chemists reading this could learn a great deal from the way he kept a lab journal. I’ve never seen Albert Hofmann’s lab notebook, but I wonder if he recorded any of his fantastic discoveries in the lab with details like this? I suspect he did as any good scientist would. Searching the web for information about James Moore and this CIA connection yields a broad range of results. In some, he’s portrayed as a sinister CIA operative posing as a chemist at the U of Delaware. Others describe him as a professor being paid by the government to make some random compounds (as happens all the time).
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As a grad student I remember being paid $100 per compound for unique chemical entities I made as intermediates in a long synthesis that my advisor (not Dr. Moore) collected from my lab work and sent to the NIH. I don’t know the truth about Dr. Moore of course, but having known him for a few years, albeit decades after this era, I suspect the account in Chapter 7 of John Marks’ The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control1 is a reasonable approximation. He was admittedly a short-order cook for the CIA, and definitely knew what he was synthesizing, but I don’t believe for a minute there was ever any evil intent. The experiments below, from Dr. Moore’s 1962 lab books, describe his synthesis of 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate (BZ) for the CIA that he accidentally ingested during synthesis and the resulting five days of disorientation and use of an antidote (that he told me was recommended by his CIA contact) to bring himself back. Of particular note are the observations of the experience he recorded and the changes in his handwriting during the experiment. Chemists in the audience will appreciate that he recrystallized the Tacrine he took as an antidote from benzene (!) before taking it. The other is simply a classic synthesis of DMT. — Keith H.
1 : Marks J. The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate”: The CIA and Mind Control. (Chapter 7).
McGraw-Hill. 1980. Online version accessed Oct 11, 2011 at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/marks7.htm.
1962 Experience Report Transcript
by Dr. James A. Moore
After handling the compound for about 2 days pharmacological reactions became apparent: Stumbling gait, inability to concentrate or converse effectively, dilated pupils, pink fingernails & blotchy pink hands with fingers dark pink and swollen—very little tactile sense. Tendency toward tremors; sudden deep breathing. Very weak legs. Dry skin—no sweating; distortion of distance and time. The above symptoms were still almost full-blown on Wed 28 Nov, about 48 hours after onset (first noticed Mon. 26 Nov. Thurs. 29 Nov: Legs better, tremors fewer. Skin still pink. Eyes still very dilated & painful. Fri. Symptoms about the same – hands less swollen – pupils still dilated—At 7:00 PM and 12:00 midnight took 100 mg. 5-amino-1,2,3,4 tetrahydroacridine (from K. Koniacial [spelling??]—recx / benzene—mp. 182-183 Sat Dec 4—pupils normal size—better motor control although legs still weak & tired.
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