The Narcotic Farm : The Rise and Fall of America's First Prison for Drug Addicts

The United States Narcotic Farm opened in 1935 in the rolling hills of Kentucky horse country. Portrayed in the press as everything from a "New Deal for the drug addict" to a "million-dollar flophouse for junkies," the sprawling art deco facility was equal parts federal prison, treatment center, working farm, and research laboratory. Its mission was to rehabilitate addicts, who were increasingly criminalized and incarcerated as a result of strict new drug laws, and to discover a cure for opiate addiction. This richly illustrated book offers an important history of this progressive yet ultimately doomed experiment. "Narco," as the locals called it, pioneered new treatments such as prescribing methadone to manage heroin withdrawal and developed drugs that blocked the action of opiates. The coed institution admitted federal prisoners as well as volunteers who checked themselves in for treatment, and through the years it hosted several legendary jazz musicians, including Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins, as well as actor Peter Lorre and writer William S. Burroughs. The facility ultimately closed in 1975 under a cloud as Congress learned that Narco researchers had recruited patients as test subjects for CIA-funded LSD experiments from 1953 to 1962, part of the notorious project MK-Ultra. Featuring a new foreword by Sam Quinones, The Narcotic Farm offers a vital perspective on US drug policy, addiction, and incarceration as the nation struggles with a new opioid epidemic.

The United States Narcotic Farm opened in 1935 in the rollinghills of Kentucky horse country. Portrayed in the press aseverything from a "New Deal for the drug addict" to a"million-dollar flophouse for junkies," the sprawling art decofacility was equal parts federal prison, treatment center, workingfarm, and research laboratory. Its mission was to rehabilitateaddicts, who were increasingly criminalized and incarcerated as aresult of strict new drug laws, and to discover a cure for opiateaddiction.

This richly illustrated book offers an important history of thisprogressive yet ultimately doomed experiment. "Narco," as thelocals called it, pioneered new treatments such as prescribingmethadone to manage heroin withdrawal and developed drugs thatblocked the action of opiates. The coed institution admittedfederal prisoners as well as volunteers who checked themselves infor treatment, and through the years it hosted several legendaryjazz musicians, including Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins, as well asactor Peter Lorre and writer William S. Burroughs. The facilityultimately closed in 1975 under a cloud as Congress learned thatNarco researchers had recruited patients as test subjects forCIA-funded LSD experiments from 1953 to 1962, part of the notoriousproject MK-Ultra.

Featuring a new foreword by Sam Quinones, The NarcoticFarm offers a vital perspective on US drug policy, addiction,and incarceration as the nation struggles with a new opioidepidemic.

"From its opening in 1935, the United States Narcotic Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, epitomized the nation's ambivalence about how to deal with drug addiction. On the one hand, it functioned as a compassionate and humane hospital, an 'asylum on the hill' on 1,000 acres of farmland where addicts could recover from their drug habits. On the other hand, it was an imposing federal prison built for the incarceration of drug addicts. 'Narco, ' as it was known, was a strange anomaly, a coed institution where federal convicts did time alongside volunteers who checked themselves in for rehabilitation. It became the world's epicenter for drug treatment and addiction research. For forty years it was the gathering place for this country's growing drug subculture, a rite of passage that initiated famous jazz musicians, drug-abusing MDs, street hustlers, and drugstore cowboys into the new fraternal order of the American junkie. The Narcotic Farm tells the story of the institution's noble rise and tumultuous fall, and includes rare and unpublished photographs, film stills, newspaper and magazine clippings, government documents, as well as recollections from the prisoners, doctors, and staff who lived and worked there."--Jacket From 1935 until 1975, just about every junkie busted for dope went to the Narcotic Farm. Equal parts federal prison, treatment center, farm, and research laboratory, the Farm was designed to rehabilitate addicts and help researchers discover a cure for drug addiction. Although it began as a bold and ambitious public works project, and became famous as a rehabilitation center frequented by great jazz musicians among others, the Farm was shut down forty years after it opened amid scandal over its drug-testing program, which involved experiments where inmates were being used as human guinea pigs and rewarded with heroin and cocaine for their efforts. Published to coincide with a documentary to be aired on PBS, The Narcotic Farm includes rare and unpublished photographs, film stills, newspaper and magazine clippings, government documents, as well as interviews, writings, and anecdotes from the prisoners, doctors, and guards that trace the Farm's noble rise and tumultuous fall, revealing the compelling story of what really happened inside the prison walls