List of psychoactive drugs used by militaries explained

Militaries worldwide have used or are using various psychoactive drugs to improve performance of soldiers by suppressing hunger, increasing the ability to sustain effort without food, increasing and lengthening wakefulness and concentration, suppressing fear, reducing empathy, and improving reflexes and memory-recall, amongst other things.^{[1] [2]}

Contemporary

For drugs that recently were or currently are being used by militaries.
Administration tends to include strict medical supervision and prior briefing of the medical risks.
Caffeine, diet pills, painkillers, nicotine, and alcohol are not included on the list. Non-administrated, illegally used drugs are also not included.

Substance	Description	United States	PRC	India	Germany	UK	France
Amphetamine (and close derivatives)	US Air Force and potentially other branches prescribed it to pilots for long endurance flights or for critical missions.	^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]			^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
	Used by ISIS in combat and smuggled for financing activities.^[10] ^[11] ^[12] ^[13] ^[14] Responsible for the biggest methamphetamine related seizure in history when $1B worth of fenethylline was intercepted at an Italian port in 2020.^[15]
	Militaries of several countries are known to have expressed interest in modafinil as an alternative to amphetaminethe drug traditionally employed in combat situations where troops face sleep deprivation, such as during lengthy missions. The French government indicated that the Foreign Legion used modafinil during certain covert operations. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence commissioned research into modafinil^[16] from QinetiQ and spent £300,000 on one investigation.^[17] In 2011, the Indian Air Force announced that modafinil was included in contingency plans.^[18] In the United States military, modafinil has been approved for use on certain Air Force missions, and it is being investigated for other uses.^[19] As of November 2012, modafinil is the only drug approved by the Air Force as a "go pill" for fatigue management.^[20] The use of dextroamphetamine (a.k.a., Dexedrine) is no longer approved.	^[21] ^[22]		^[23] ^[24]		^[25]	^[26] ^[27]
Sleeping pills (generally)		^[28]

Historic

• Benzedrine was claimed to have been administered by Allied forces during WWII, esp. by the US^{[2] [29]}
  • Germany and Japan used methamphetamine.^[30]
• Methamphetamine ("Panzerschokolade", "Pervitin") during WWII by Nazi Germany^{[31] [32]}
  • was the eponymous name that the Luftwaffe are claimed to have used.
  • D-IX was a combination of Methamphetamine, Oxycodone, and Cocaine that was produced in 1944 but could not be mass produced before the war ended.^[33] It was part of a future generation of "pep pills" for the German military and was tested on concentration camp prisoners.^[34]

See also

• Academy of Military Medical Sciences
  • MKUltra
• Psychochemical warfare
• Military medicine
• Neuroenhancement
• Nootropic
• Supersoldier
• Use of drugs in warfare

External links

• Web site: Sample. Ian. US military successfully tests electrical brain stimulation to enhance staff skills. The Guardian. 7 November 2016 .
• Saletan. William. The War on Sleep. Slate. 29 May 2013 .
• Web site: Glain. Stephen J.. Israeli Biotech Firm Develops DrugThat May Limit Effects of Nerve Gas. Wall Street Journal. 28 September 1998.
• Presentation of the "Night Eagle" drug on China Central Television

Notes and References

1. Web site: Stoker . Liam . Creating Supermen: battlefield performance enhancing drugs . Army Technology . . 22 June 2018 . 14 April 2013.
2. Web site: Kamienski. Lukasz. The Drugs That Built a Super Soldier. The Atlantic. 8 April 2016. 22 June 2018.
3. Web site: 'Go pills': A war on drugs?. MSNBC. 5 January 2017. 27 February 2004.
4. Web site: This is Your Military on Drugs. New Republic. 5 January 2017. 5 February 2013.
5. Web site: Saletan. William. The War on Sleep. Slate. 5 January 2017. 29 May 2013.
6. Web site: U.S. Combat Pilots on Speed. ABC News . 5 January 2017--> . 6 January 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110131230719/https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123779&page=1 . 2011-01-31.
7. Web site: Die Super-Soldaten, die auf den Schlachtfeldern der Zukunft kämpfen werden. Vice Motherboard. 5 January 2017. de.
8. News: "Pervitin" – Großvater des Crystal Meth. Der Spiegel . 17 May 2013 . Spiegel Online. 5 January 2017. Hurst . Fabienne .
9. Web site: "Wunderpille" Pervitin – Drogeneinnahme für das Vaterland. 3Sat. 5 January 2017.
10. News: Todd. Brian. McConnell. Dugald. Syria fighters may be fueled by amphetamines. 22 November 2015. CNN. 21 November 2015.
11. Web site: Captagon, ISIS's favorite amphetamine, explained. 20 November 2015 . Vox. 5 January 2017.
12. News: Captagon: the amphetamine fuelling Syria's civil war . Jon . Henley . . 13 January 2014 . 31 December 2015.
13. Web site: This is the tiny pill fuelling the Syrian civil war. The Independent. 5 January 2017. 19 November 2015.
14. Web site: These Are the People Making Captagon, the Drug ISIS Fighters Take to Feel 'Invincible'. Daily Intelligencer. 5 January 2017.
15. News: Nadeau . Barbie Latza . 2020-07-01 . Italian Police on Amalfi Coast Seize 84 Million 'Captagon' Pills Shipped by ISIS From Syria . en . The Daily Beast . 2022-12-26.
16. News: Wheeler B . BBC report on MoD research into modafinil . BBC News . October 26, 2006 . July 4, 2012.
17. News: MoD's secret pep pill to keep forces awake . The Scotsman . February 27, 2005 . December 31, 2013.
18. Web site: Pilot pill project . News – City . PuneMirror . February 16, 2011 . July 4, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120319022600/http://www.punemirror.in/article/2/201102162011021606331644587714a65/Pilot-pill-project.html . March 19, 2012 . dead .
19. Web site: Modafinil and management of aircrew fatigue . Taylor GP, Jr . Keys RE . December 1, 2003 . United States Department of the Air Force . September 18, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090612082936/http://www.hep.afrl.af.mil/HEPF/Policy/modafinil.pdf . June 12, 2009 . dead .
20. http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/afsoc/publication/afsoci48-101/afsoci48-101.pdf Air Force Special Operations Command Instruction 48–101
21. Web site: PLA eyes 'Night Eagle' to make army of night owls. South China Morning Post. 5 January 2017. 16 October 2011.
22. Web site: Super Soldiers? Military Drug New Rage. ABC News. 5 January 2017. 7 December 2008.
23. Web site: IAF pilots pop pills to get fighting edge. The Times of India. 5 January 2017.
24. Web site: Indian Air Force pilots popping pills to 'heighten alertness'. DAWN. 5 January 2017. 8 February 2016.
25. News: UK army tested 'stay awake' pills. BBC News. 26 October 2006 . 5 January 2017.
26. Web site: Medicine developed for Chinese Army to fight sleep. Korea Times. 5 January 2017. 17 October 2011.
27. Web site: Stay Awake, Comrades. Psychology Today. 5 January 2017.
28. Web site: This is Your Military on Drugs. New Republic. 5 January 2017. 5 February 2013.
29. Rasmussen N . Making the first anti-depressant: amphetamine in American medicine, 1929–1950 . J. Hist. Med. Allied Sci.. 61. 3. 288–323. July 2006. 16492800. 10.1093/jhmas/jrj039. 24974454 .
30. News: WW II German soldiers, civilians dropped amphetamines to give them boost to battle allies. NY Daily News. 5 January 2017.
31. Web site: Soldiers (Pervitin)Have Used Drugs to Enhance Their Killing Capabilities in Basically Every War. Vice. 5 January 2017. en-us.
32. News: Ulrich. Andreas. The Nazi Death Machine: Hitler's Drugged Soldiers. Der Spiegel. 5 January 2017.
33. Book: Paterson, Lawrence . Weapons of desperation : German frogmen and midget submarines of the Second World War . 2006 . Chatham . 978-1-86176-279-5 . London . 65470074.
34. Web site: Jeevan Vasagar: cocaine-based "wonder drug" tested on concentration camp inmates . Amphetamines.com . 19 November 2002 . 15 January 2011.