UKRAINE DARKNESS: Alcohol and Drug Abuse Spike Among the Collapsing Defenders
UKRAINE DARKNESS: Alcohol and Drug Abuse Spike Among the Collapsing Defenders
All is fair in warfare, as nations many times use whatever substances they can to gain the ‘upper’ hand in the war.
In WW2, the widespread usage of amphetamines started a trend that hasn’t ended more than eighty years later.
The Germans were particularly fond of a methamphetamine called Pervitin, distributed in the millions to their troops. They nicknamed it ‘Stuka tablets’ or ‘Panzer-chocolate’.
The British and American forces weren’t too behind in this ‘pharmaceutical arms race’. They also used amphetamines, under a different name: Benzedrine.
Even in Japan, soldiers and workers in war industry used ‘senryoku zokyo zai’, ‘drugs to increase fighting spirit’ – methamphetamine.
Amphetamines were widely used for reducing the need for sleep, combating stress, and boosting morale. And these substances are still used today.
In the battlefields of Ukraine, the abuse of alcohol and drugs is escalating, as the situation on the front lines has taken a disastrous turn for the worse for the Ukrainian defenders.
Without any way to decompress from the horror of war, many soldiers are turning to drugs and alcohol as a way to cope.
The Daily Beast reported on the issue:
“Some of those defending Ukraine are also abusing illegal substances that they buy through shady online businesses run by the country’s mafia. [Some get] so drunk or high that they have killed civilians, soldiers, and animals in a blind rage or while driving under the influence.”
Some of these soldiers have not been taken off of frontline rotation in as much as eight months.
“In Kyiv—far from the front lines—nationalism and the belief that Ukraine will win the war are ever-present, but in Donbas The Daily Beast has witnessed a far darker mood where drunken soldiers aimlessly wander the markets in Kostyantynivka, dead dogs line the streets, and some soldiers say Ukraine is headed for defeat.”
One soldier told the paper that forcibly conscripted people ‘don’t know how to do anything, and they get into a crisis situation’.
“In Kharkov, a soldier who only wanted us to use his first name said that he never drank alcohol in the trenches where he was fighting, but he has heard stories of soldiers lashing out when they are drunk. Valerii, 32, claimed that last summer, one soldier shot and killed two colleagues and a dog while he was drunk. Although he did not drink in frontline positions, Valerii said that he did use amphetamine, a drug he has been abusing since he was 18, to stay awake. ‘Everyone used it there, every day. You have to stay awake for a long time’, said Valerii.”
Valerii would take up to half a gram, 500 milligrams daily. dozens of times more than the usual medical prescription of the drug. His frontline rotation could be anywhere from five to 25 days without rest.
Another soldier, who has long been a drug addict and who lost both legs to a mine explosion also weighed in the problem:
“Andrey likened his use of MDMA to that of American veterans who returned from Vietnam and used LSD and said that he has heard of similar stories of U.S. soldiers using the drug now.
[…] Andrey spends the time playing video games on his phone and using MDMA, which he said has helped him relax from a concussion he received during the time he lost his legs and the post-traumatic stress disorder he developed over his time as a soldier.”
While TDB does not go near it, there’s of course a good point to be made that the example comes from above, right? But that is an altogether different story.
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Author: Paul Serran