Global Health and Foreign Policy Blog » 2008

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US"> <head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11"><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu:80/2008/06/?","20090901104453","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1251801893"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"/> <title>Global Health and Foreign Policy Blog » 2008 » June</title> <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 2.6.1"/>  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453cs_/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/wp-content/themes/sais/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Global Health and Foreign Policy Blog RSS Feed" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/feed/"/> <link rel="pingback" href="http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/xmlrpc.php"/> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/xmlrpc.php?rsd"/> <link rel="wlwmanifest" type="application/wlwmanifest+xml" href="http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml"/> <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 2.6.1"/> </head> <body>    <div id="wrapper"> <div class="header"> <div class="header-text"> <h1><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/">Global Health and Foreign Policy Blog</a></h1> <h2>Blogging on the overlap between principle and power.</h2> </div> </div> <table width="752" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="wrapper_table"> <tr> <td width="500" align="left" valign="top"> <div id="content"> <div class="post" id="post-"> <div class="dateheader">June 24, 2008</div> <div class="post_header"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2008/06/?y%/pharmaceuticals-and-war/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Pharmaceuticals and War">Pharmaceuticals and War</a></div> <div class="post_subhead"><em>Posted by hfeldbaum at 10:53 am</em></div> <div class="post_body"> <p>This is a rather light <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1811858,00.html" target="_blank">treatment</a> of the subject in Time Magazine, covering the seemingly increasing numbers of US Army soldiers who are prescribed antidepressants to “calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan,” fight PTSD and keep needed soldiers on the front lines. There is a long history of the use of drugs during warfare, from antidepressants in current wars, to amphetamines in Somalia (Khat), Vietnam and WWII, to alcohol from time immemorial. I heard chilling first-hand stories of Serb soldiers drunk on schlivovitz from Bosnian refugees after the war. I’m surprised Time didn’t dig a little deeper and describe the current use of amphetamines or “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=12710&archive=true" target="_blank">go pills</a>,” antidepressants and sleep aids “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18001&archive=true" target="_blank">no go pills</a>” to improve Air Force pilot performance during long missions. And not just the US Air Force, most countries “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/israel-mulls-vi.html" target="_blank">drug their pilots, to keep ‘em alert.</a>” A touchy political subject? Sure. An old issue that might deserve a well-researched and reasoned debate in a news magazine? I guess that’s pushing it.</p> </div> <div class="post_footer"> <div class="comments_etc"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2008/06/?y%/pharmaceuticals-and-war/#respond" title="Comment on Pharmaceuticals and War">Comments (0)</a> </div> </div> <div class="copyright_footer"> <p>Copyright © 2007, all rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author(s). The contents of this page have not been reviewed and approved by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://www.sais-jhu.edu/" target="_blank"> The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University</a>.</p> </div> </div> </div> </td> <td width="252" align="left" valign="top"> <div id="sidebar">  <div class="module_header"> <div class="module_header_text"> Search </div></div> <div class="module_content"> <form method="get" id="searchform" action="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/"> <div class="searchform"><input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s"/> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search"/> </div> </form> </div>  <div class="module_header"><div class="module_header_text">Archives</div></div> <div class="module_content"><div class="module_content_text"><ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2008/12/" title="December 2008">December 2008</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2008/06/" title="June 2008">June 2008</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2008/03/" title="March 2008">March 2008</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/12/" title="December 2007">December 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/11/" title="November 2007">November 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/10/" title="October 2007">October 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/09/" title="September 2007">September 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/08/" title="August 2007">August 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/07/" title="July 2007">July 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/06/" title="June 2007">June 2007</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/2007/05/" title="May 2007">May 2007</a></li> </ul></div></div> <div class="module_header"><div class="module_header_text">Categories</div></div> <div class="module_content"><div class="module_content_text"><ul> <li class="cat-item cat-item-2"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/category/blogroll/" title="View all posts filed under Blogroll">Blogroll</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-7"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/category/field-reports/" title="View all posts filed under Field Reports">Field Reports</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-4"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/category/harley-feldbaum/" title="View all posts filed under Harley Feldbaum">Harley Feldbaum</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-6"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/category/josh-michaud/" title="View all posts filed under Josh Michaud">Josh Michaud</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-3"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/category/news/" title="View all posts filed under News">News</a> </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-5"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/category/scott-barrett/" title="View all posts filed under Scott Barrett">Scott Barrett</a> </li> </ul> </div></div> <div class="module_header"><div class="module_header_text">Meta</div></div> <div class="module_content"><div class="module_content_text"> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/wp-login.php?action=register">Register</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/wp-login.php">Log in</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/feed/" title="Syndicate this site using RSS"><abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://globalhealth.sais-jhu.edu/comments/feed/" title="The latest comments to all posts in RSS">Comments <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090901104453/http://wordpress.org/" title="Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform."><abbr title="WordPress">WP</abbr></a></li> </ul> </div></div> </div> </td> </tr> </table>

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