Misc Creative Drug Use in Wars

[tuppingtoncity]

In doing some basic research on cytisine and it's pretty fascinating history, I stumbled across the commonly repeated fact that Russian and German soldiers during WWII, in the midst of cigarette shortages, would smoke the leaves of the Cytisus Laburnum, a tree rich in cytisine, in order to overcome nicotine cravings. I thought this was an absolutely incredible factoid, and it falls in line with the trend that war, much like prohibition (or poverty, or hardship at large), has historically pushed individuals to find creative means of altering one's consciousness. In the case of cytisine, it's use during WWII seems to have played a significant role in cytisine's emergence as a major smoking cessation aid in Eastern Europe in the latter half of the 20th century. I was wondering if y'all had come across any similar instances of creative, strange, or outright dumb drug use that was the product of war?

 

[Gridlink]

During WW2 both the axis and allies gave their troops amphetamines to increase their combat effectiveness and reduce the need to sleep and eat. I believe this practice was most common among the Germans. Although there's also some story of a Finnish soldier who took way too many amphetamines and tweaked for a week, running around and shooting at Russians.

During the UN occupation of Somalia, a lot of the Somalian gangs fighting the UN would chew khat, a stimulant. They'd be sluggish in the morning and then as the khat high kicked in they'd get aggressive, and shoot down Black Hawk helicopters and the like. Since khat grows in Ethiopia too I'd imagine it was/is used in that country's civil wars.

American pilots and special forces operators (I think?) also receive "go" pills containing amphetamine or modafinil, and "stop" pills with a benzo or a z-drug to regulate sleep and waking before/during missions.

There's the stories of the 10,000 Greeks under Xenophon and then, later, the roman armies under Pompey discovering psychedelic honey that knocked the troops out for a couple days.

During Napoleon's invasion of Egypt on the retreat from acre, wounded troops were intentionally given lethal doses of opium so that they wouldn't be captured by the Ottomans and tortured.

Alcohol was also widely distributed and used in wars historically. That is all can think of offhand.

 

[Featherfall]

i m reminded of hearing about soldiers dropping acid in Vietnam in their off time or even while being bombed

 

[tuppingtoncity]

i m reminded of hearing about soldiers dropping acid in Vietnam in their off time or even while being bombed

yeah, soldiers in Vietnam were quite the prolific drug users. Something like 30% used heroin during the war I believe. Another interesting drug-anecdote from vietnam was the supposed use of ketamine as a battlefield anesthetic. As commonly as this is repeated, I have yet to see any solid evidence that ketamine was widely used in Vietnam and considering ketamine wasn't approved by the FDA until 1970. Anyways, it makes for a cool story.

 

[Featherfall]

yeah, soldiers in Vietnam were quite the prolific drug users. Something like 30% used heroin during the war I believe. Another interesting drug-anecdote from vietnam was the supposed use of ketamine as a battlefield anesthetic. As commonly as this is repeated, I have yet to see any solid evidence that ketamine was widely used in Vietnam and considering ketamine wasn't approved by the FDA until 1970. Anyways, it makes for a cool story

that is weird, maybe it was pcp? i've only heard of the classic Heroin, coke, acid and hash for vietnam

 

[tuppingtoncity]

that is weird, maybe it was pcp? i've only heard of the classic Heroin, coke, acid and hash for vietnam

That’s possible, although PCP had stopped being used as an anesthetic for humans in 1965 due to 'emergence phenomena' , so I think it's just as unlikely as ketamine. I would love to know where this story was started, and if there's some kernel of truth to it. Perhaps it is true... but unfortunately we'll probably never know

 

[Featherfall]

That’s possible, although PCP had stopped being used as an anesthetic for humans in 1965 due to 'emergence phenomena' , so I think it's just as unlikely as ketamine. I would love to know where this story was started, and if there's some kernel of truth to it. Perhaps it is true... but unfortunately we'll probably never know

yeah, you'd have to dig through some old vietnam vet interviews i imagine, but those are slowly running out of existing so yeah, might have been a novel plant who knows, that'd be cool