MIND-BENDING PROPERTIES OF DRUGS EXPLORED

About a year ago, Dr. Michael Mosley participated in the U.K.'s first
scientific trial of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.

He took the drug while filming his series for the BBC (airing tonight
on the CBC's documentary channel) called The Brain: A Secret History.

"It was one of the strangest experiences of my life," he would write
later in a piece for U.K.'s Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust
that investigates consciousness and drug-policy research.

But because psilocybin is hallucinogenic (the U.S. military used it in
brain-washing experiments in the 1950s and '60s), it was also
disturbing, Mosley recalled: "After a thorough physical examination, I
was placed in a brain scanner, so the (research) team could map in
detail how my brain reacted.

"Then the drug was injected. For an instant, there was nothing. Then
it was like that moment in a Star Trek film when the space ship goes
into hyperdrive. The walls of the scanner dissolved and I took off to
the stars. I saw intense colours and patterns. It was beautiful, but
disturbing. It was also intensely frustrating, because I wanted
someone to share the experience with, and I was all alone in a metal
and plastic tube."

As tonight's episode titled Mind Control (the first of three parts)
explores, the point of the exercise was to try to understand how the
mind-bending properties of drugs like psilocybin can change the brain.

Mosley also examines the brutal history of experimental psychology,
tracing the sinister ways this science has been used to try to control
the mind. He finds that the pursuit of mind control has led to some
truly horrific experiments and left many casualties in its wake.

This is a scientific journey that goes to the very heart of what we
hold most dear: our free will, and our ability to control our own
destiny. But note that, while it makes for compelling viewing, it will
disturb some viewers.

The next two episodes will follow on consecutive Wednesday nights:
Emotions, on Aug. 17, and Broken Brains, on Aug. 24. (documentary, 9
ET/PT).

Three to see

* Last year's Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage takes an in-depth look at
the hard-rockin' Toronto trio. (HBO, 7 ET/PT).

* Another music documentary, a very different animal: Rufus
Wainwright: Prima Donna chronicles the baroque-pop singer-songwriter's
operatic influences. (Bravo! 10 ET/PT).

* Primetime Nightline has a salacious-sounding piece called Famous and
Underage, about children and teens on their way to stardom, with
former child stars talking about "the dark side of success." (ABC, 10
ET/PT).