It was very effective horror! It had exactly the feeling that I would expect to get from a government taskforce clinically documenting its atrocities, and the pacing and choice of language was extremely strong. I don't think that kind of horror is a bad thing any more than I think a ghost chili pepper is a bad thing---I just don't want someone to eat one unprepared.
As for ketamine, it makes perfect sense apart from being achronological. Shifting the timeline up to the 60s feels like it would resolve the issue---and honestly the taskforce did have a sort of 60s black book project feeling to it. Not really relentlessly purpose-driven and needs must in its inhumanity, more just messing around and finding out for nominal freedom reasons.