Project Coast - Unusual Features

Unusual Features

The South African chemical weapons program investigated all the standard CW agents such as irritant riot control agents, lethal nerve agents and anticholinergic deliriants, which have been researched by virtually all countries that have carried out CW research. This led to the investigation of a number of unusual non-lethal agents, including illicit recreational drugs such as MDMA, methaqualone and cocaine, as well as several medicinal drugs such as diazepam, ketamine, suxamethonium and tubocurarine, as potential incapacitating agents. According to the testimony given by Wouter Basson to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a number of analogues of these compounds were prepared and studied, and both methaqualone and MDMA (along with the deliriant BZ) were manufactured in large quantities and successfully weaponised into a fine dust or aerosol form that could be released over a crowd as a potential riot control agent. Wouter Basson was later found to have also been selling large quantities of MDMA and methaqualone as tablets on the black market, but the amount manufactured was far larger than what was sold and the court accepted that at least some genuine weaponisation and testing of these agents had been done.