Anyone have a favourite drug for staying alert? Must admit I've never found amphetamine massively useful for keeping alert - on the very rare occasions I've tried it I often fell asleep after an hour or two. Modafinil is good for the first day or two then stops working, about the best appears to be caffiene but that's a pretty shitty drug too.
Military doctors were handing out millions of pills to the troops known as Pervitin.
The label claimed it was an 'alertness aid' which should be taken 'to maintain wakefulness'. We know it today as methamphetamine, or more commonly, crystal meth.
In May 1940, a young soldier named Heinrich Böll wrote a letter from the frontline back to his family complaining that he was exhausted by the war.
He said he had become 'cold and apathetic, completely without interests'. He asked his family 'Perhaps you could obtain some more Pervitin for my supplies?'
Böll explained that just one pill was as effective for staying alert as litres of strong coffee.
Better still, the drug seemed to make all his worries disappear and, for a few hours at least, he was happy.
Research by the German Doctors' Association also showed they developed a cocaine-based stimulant for its front-line fighters that was tested on concentration camp inmates.
The drug, codenamed D-IX, was tested at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of Berlin, where prisoners loaded with 45lb packs were reported to have marched 70 miles without rest.
In January 1942, one group of 500 troops surrounded by the Red Army were attempting to escape in temperatures of minus 30 Degrees C.
'I decided to give them Pervitin as they began to lie down in the snow wanting to die,' wrote the medical officer for the unit.
'After half an hour the men began spontaneously reporting that they felt better.
'They began marching in orderly fashion again, their spirits improved, and they became more alert.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rt-war-taking-CRYSTAL-METH.html#ixzz2UzUbHocW
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Military doctors were handing out millions of pills to the troops known as Pervitin.
The label claimed it was an 'alertness aid' which should be taken 'to maintain wakefulness'. We know it today as methamphetamine, or more commonly, crystal meth.
In May 1940, a young soldier named Heinrich Böll wrote a letter from the frontline back to his family complaining that he was exhausted by the war.
He said he had become 'cold and apathetic, completely without interests'. He asked his family 'Perhaps you could obtain some more Pervitin for my supplies?'
Böll explained that just one pill was as effective for staying alert as litres of strong coffee.
Better still, the drug seemed to make all his worries disappear and, for a few hours at least, he was happy.
Research by the German Doctors' Association also showed they developed a cocaine-based stimulant for its front-line fighters that was tested on concentration camp inmates.
The drug, codenamed D-IX, was tested at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of Berlin, where prisoners loaded with 45lb packs were reported to have marched 70 miles without rest.
In January 1942, one group of 500 troops surrounded by the Red Army were attempting to escape in temperatures of minus 30 Degrees C.
'I decided to give them Pervitin as they began to lie down in the snow wanting to die,' wrote the medical officer for the unit.
'After half an hour the men began spontaneously reporting that they felt better.
'They began marching in orderly fashion again, their spirits improved, and they became more alert.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rt-war-taking-CRYSTAL-METH.html#ixzz2UzUbHocW
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
