Use of drugs in warfare
Alcohol has a long association of military use, and has been called "liquid courage" for its role in preparing troops for battle.
Military and veteran populations face significant challenges in addressing the co-occurrence of PTSD and alcohol use disorder.
Some reports suggest that on occasion, alcohol and drugs have been provided to the lower quality troops by their commanders, in order to facilitate their use as expendable cannon fodder.
From April to July 1940, German service members on the Western Front received more than 35 million methamphetamine pills.
[9] The abuse of anabolic steroids can cause heart attacks, strokes, tumors in the liver, renal failure, and psychiatric episodes.
The British Army distributed cocaine-containing pills under Tabloid's brand name "Forced March",[19] which were advertised to suppress appetite and increase endurance.
Based on 2023 estimates, about 80% of Captagon is produced in Syria and exported from the port of Latakia with the assistance of the Syrian government under the command of Maher al-Assad.
[34][35] Since the fall of the Assad regime in 2024 the new Syrian transitional government has ordered the cessation of the drug trade, and production has reportedly been reduced by 90%.
[36] It has been speculated that the Norse berserkers' infamous battle rage had been induced voluntarily by the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms such as fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)[37][38][39] and alkaloid-bearing plants such as black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger).
[41] While both A. muscaria and H. niger can result in delirious behavior, twitching, increased strength and redness of the face, the latter is also known to have pain-numbing properties.
[41] The 16th century Spanish Franciscan scholar Bernardino de Sahagún wrote that the Chichimeca people of Mexico consumed the root of the peyote, a cactus, to stimulate themselves for battle.
They were also used to treat diarrhea, muscle spasms of amputees, gangrene, dysentery, inflammation from gunshot wounds, and to sedate agitated troops.
[47] As a result of World War I, hundreds of thousands of soldiers developed severe opiate addictions, as morphine was commonly used to treat injuries.
Starting with the Thirty Years' War in 17th century Europe, major military encounters caused a surge in tobacco usage, mostly stemming from soldiers' use.
[49] Substance-use disorders were often attributed to moral failure, with the US Supreme Court ruling as recently as 1988 that the Department of Veterans Affairs did not have to pay benefits to alcoholics, as drinking was a result of "willful misconduct".
This is because many of the clinicians providing these screenings are also service members, and they are aware of the stigma and consequences of a SUD or AUD diagnosis in the military.
This is also because of the lack of screening and clinicians available, and they usually only catch a SUD or AUD when the veteran is coming in for another mental illness, such as PTSD.
