Hitler was on Meth. The Nazi Army, too.

[n2doc]

'Pilot's Salt': The Third Reich Kept Its Soldiers Alert With Crystal Meth
For a while, the stuff seemed to be "the ideal war drug."


In 1972, Heinrich Böll won the Nobel Prize for literature. But before he became a writer of novels, short stories, and essays, Böll was a writer of letters. During his early 20s, which also happened to be during World War II, he was conscripted into the German military. And as he fought, serving in France, Romania, Hungary, and finally the Soviet Union, Böll corresponded with his family back in Cologne.

The letter he sent on May 20, 1940, contained not just an update, but a request. "Perhaps you could obtain some more Pervitin for my supplies?"

Just one of these pills, Böll explained, was as effective at keeping him alert as several cups of coffee. Plus, when he took Pervitin, he was able to forget, temporarily, about the trials and terrors of war. He could -- for a while, at least -- be happy.

Pervitin was the early version of what we know today as crystal meth. And it was fitting that a German soldier would become addicted to the stuff: the drug, Der Spiegel notes, first became popular in Germany, brought to market by the then-Berlin-based drugmaker Temmler Werke. And almost immediately, the German army physiologist Otto Ranke realized its military value: not only could the methamphetamine compound keep fighters (pilots, in particular) alert on little sleep; it could also keep an entire military force feeling euphoric. Meth, Spiegel puts it, "was the ideal war drug."

And it was, as such, put to wide use. The Wehrmacht, Germany's World War II army, ended up distributing millions of the Pervitin tablets to soldiers on the front (they called it "Panzerschokolade," or "tank chocolate&quot . The air force gave the tablets to its flyers (in this case, it was "pilot's chocolate" or "pilot's salt&quot . Hitler himself was given intravenous injections of methamphetamine by his personal physician, Theodor Morell. The pill, however, was the more common form of the drug. All told, between April and July of 1940, more than 35 million three-milligram doses of Pervitin were manufactured for the German army and air force.

more

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/05/pilots-salt-the-third-reich-kept-its-soldiers-alert-with-crystal-meth/276429/

[SlimJimmy]

1. And it's my understanding of history that Hermann Göring was a morphine addict.

... he had been taking the equivalent of three or four grains (260 to 320 mg) of morphine a day—

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring

[PNW_Dem]

20. and it’s my understanding that Rush Limbaugh is an Oxycontin addict

Coincidence?

[SlimJimmy]

31. WTH does this have to do with WWII? The OP was discussing the use of drugs by the German army.

I found it notable to mention that Göring was a drug addict. It was an interesting aside. Must everything on this board be about politics?

[NightWatcher]

2. And we have pilots on Provigil

Or we used to back in the early 2000's. I loved the stuff. One pill kept you alert and bright for 12 hours with no crash.

[FirstLight]

7. +1000

ya, it's not uncommon in military use...heck, the Aztecs used to chew the coco leaves and be fearsome fighters, right?

[arely staircase]

18. yeah, "go pills" ambien is the "no-go pill" or something like that

an American aviator shot up a bunch of Canadians in Iraq or Afghanistan a few years back. Part of his defense, understandably, was the unit doctor had him on all these drugs and he thought the Canadians target practicing were firing on him.

[Major Nikon]

19. Millions of doses of amphetamines have been issued to US servicemen since WWII

[Warren Stupidity]

30. Indeed. I guess this story forgot that inconvenient fact.

[Spider Jerusalem]

42. Which is probably better than the dextroamphetamines they used to get.

[backscatter712]

3. Ah, now I remember the stories of Hitler's quack doctor and his "vitamin" injections.

"Dr." Theodor Morell was mentioned briefly in the article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Morell

Morell shot up Hitler with meth in the morning to wake him up, then gave him injections of barbituates in the evening to put him to sleep.

Is it any wonder that Hitler looked like he had Parkinsons and looked so strung out by the end days in the bunker?

[cliffordu]

4. They gave speed to us, too.....

Not the NAZI'S.....

[SCVDem]

29. Re: Speed

I have done the white cross dexys during the disco years and have a short time experience years ago with crank.

Let me tell you that while both will string you out, crank, crystal meth, causes more violent mood swings and over the top aggression. Same as smoking crack.

It just acts upon the body differently.

Just a FYI based on personal experience.

[WCGreen]

34. I pretty much ingested any drug available from 1972-1984 except Heroin or Meth...

I had a pretty good time at the beginning but somewhere around 78-79, I started into a heavy drinking stage that led me to AA and the man I am today.

I would not do the Meth, I had a few friends who were wired on the stuff and it looked like a very bleak drug experience.

[arely staircase]

5. I live in a pretty meth-plagued part of the world

and I remember a few years back when local meth cooks were getting busted while using what was called the "Nazi method" of making the stuff. Supposedly it was a way German soldiers could make the stuff relatively easily when they ran out of what had been issued them.

[frylock]

12. Hitler's secret recipe was something you would hear a lot in east county san diego back in the '80s

at that time I believe that san diego and inland empire was considered to be the meth capital of the world.

[FirstLight]

6. ...

reminds me of Brave New World and the 'soma' pills...

the best way to keep a nation under control, eh? so what is our equivalent now?..... alcohol? herione? anti-depressants? viagra?

[HiPointDem]

8. speed epidemics historically proceed narcotic epidemics.

[TeeYiYi]

9. So was JFK...

...allegedly.

That drug was pretty common in the early to mid 20th century, before it became the scourge that it is now.

TYY

[ananda]

10. JFK and Jackie took injections too.

..

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. It's a very productive drug...until it's not.

Primus: Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/primus/those+damned+blue+collared+tweekers_20610172.html

I've seen them out at Soco
They're pounding sixteen penny nails
The truckers on the interstate
Have been known to ride the rails
The sweat is beating on the brow
Can't keep these fellas down
'Cause those damned blue-collared tweekers
Are runnin' this here town

I knew a man who hung drywall
He hung it mighty quick
A trip or two to the blue room
WOuld help him do the trick
Hise foreman would pat him on the back
Whenever he would come around
'Cause these dammed blue-collar tweekers
Are beloved in this here town

Now the union boys are there
To protect us from all the corporate type
While curious George's drug patrol
Is out here hunting snipe
Now they try to tell me different
But you know I ain't no clown
'Cause those damned blue-collar tweekers
Are the backbone of this town

Now the flame that burns twice as bright
Burns only half as long
My eyes are growing weary
As I finalize this song
So sit back and have a cup o' joe
And watch the wheels go round
'Cause those damned blue-collar tweekers
Have always run this town

[Sand Wind]

13. The Shabiha (the Assad gang) too.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2157518/Syria-massacre-The-steroid-mad-Ghost-killers-Assad-power.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. There was a diet pill called Dexamyl that was very common in the '60s.

It was great for helping one stay up all night to finish term papers at the end of a semester. Turned out the stuff was a version of meth and was eventually banned.

It worked, though.

[LiberalEsto]

26. Dexes and bennies (benzedrine)

were briefly my drugs of choice in college several decades ago. But the ensuing crashes were so awful that I decided they weren't worth it.

[Blue_In_AK]

27. We used to take Eskatrol in college

Basically the same thing.

[starroute]

15. And Judy Garland

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3720.html

To keep up with the frantic pace of making movie after movie, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were given amphetamines to keep them going, and barbiturates before bedtime. That constant regimen of drugs led to Garland`s lifelong struggle with addiction — and her eventual death. . . .

In the early 1960s, CBS offered Garland a weekly television series of her own. “The Judy Garland Show” garnered praise from the critics, but it was placed in the time slot opposite “Bonanza.” Despite winning four Emmy nominations, the show was canceled in 1964 after one season. The cancellation had a devastating impact on Garland, emotionally and financially.

Garland sought solace in alcohol, prescription sedatives, and stimulants. There were, however, short periods in her life when she attempted to get "clean," but she was never able to stay off the drugs and alcohol. Garland spent her life struggling to overcome many personal problems, including addiction, to no avail.

She was found dead by her last husband, Mickey Deans, on June 22, 1969. She was living in Chelsea, London, when she died at the age of 47. The cause of death was an accidental overdose of barbiturates.

[Berlum]

24. Judy, Judy, Judy...

[ruffburr]

16. Could it Be-

That these right-wing crazies in washington are crank-heads? Sure seems like it to me. Just look at them and listen to the insanity they spout It fits too many nights sucking down the booze while snorting the dope coming up with one crazy crackpot opinion/idea after the other.

[Kingofalldems]

17. Elvis started taking uppers in the army

Ruined his voice and his life for that matter.

[sarge43]

21. There hasn't been an army that wasn't strung out on some chemical

Ninety percent boredom, ten percent terror - guaranteed to make anyone want to kill a few brain cells

[blkmusclmachine]

22. How much of it is going to DC and Wall Street nowadays? Must be metric tons of the $h!t.

[another_liberal]

23. Joseph Heller describes . . .

In his semi-autobiographical novel, Catch 22, Joseph Heller describes how he and his fellow pilots were given amphetamine tablets to keep them awake during long, over water, ferry flights. Nately, one of his characters, decided that if one tablet would make him "a better pilot," then half a dozen should make him a really great one. Needless to say, it did not work quite like that.

[longship]

28. Then, there's the white soldier.

In a body cast. He has an IV going in and a catheter going out. Every so many hours, the nurse would disconnect the empty bottle going into his vein and the full one from the catheter, and switch the bottles. He was dead for a time before anybody noticed.

Catch-22!

[another_liberal]

35. Don't forget . . .

Don't forget my favorite, Major Major Major Major. The guy whose life was ruined by an IBM punch card computer.

[flying rabbit]

25. Pervitin sounds like it should be used to treat

child molesters.

[undeterred]

36. maybe it creates perverts

[pinboy3niner]

32. Finally solving the mystery of those immaculate German barracks

[Tom Ripley]

33. It is also responsible for "Bringing it All Back Home" and "Highway 61 Revisited"

Win a few, lose a few

[Incitatus]

37. Advice Hitler

[MannyGoldstein]

38. Is this stuff different than what kids take for ADHD?

3mg would be a tiny dose for amphetamines for ADHD, but I suspect this stuff is different?

[pipoman]

40. Yeah..meth isn't your garden variety

amphetamine..it is in a class all it's own..IMHO

edit..I've seen first timers go on a 3 day bender..if it's there it is almost irresistible while doing it..thus the fast onset of visible symptoms of frequent users..

[pipoman]

39. Well...that would explain this then, eh?

http://www.oocities.org/larry_hedrick/diedin.htm

[Tabasco_Dave]

41. Maybe that's why so many tweakers have swastika tattoos?