Published 2023-11-06 22.58
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It’s like in Las Vegas.
The words come from a Russian soldier in a trench in Ukraine.
Drugs are delivered here to the front with special orders.
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Russia’s war against Ukraine has lasted 621 days. Right now, a Russian offensive is underway to take the town of Avdijivka just north of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Several media outlets report heavy losses for the Russians.
Now there are reports that drug use among Russian soldiers in the trenches is widespread.
Above all, it is about the synthetic drug “salt”, alpha-PVPalpha-PVPEn synthetic drug which is also “Flakka” or “Gravel”. The white-pink crystals can be eaten, snorted, injected or smoked in e-cigarettes. , which is delivered to the front, writes The Times. It is smoked from a can lid through a ballpoint pen and washed down with vodka.
“Is like in Las Vegas”
Journalists at the independent Russian site Verstka are said to have interviewed dozens of soldiers who use drugs, and residents of Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, to get a picture of the addiction.
– It’s like in Las Vegas. Everyone knows if you do drugs in the trenches, of course, they are small trenches. No one cares, the main thing is not to disturb anyone else. And not to leave the trench, says a soldier.
Alpha-PVP, also called “Flakka” and “Gravel”, is similar to bath salts. Among other things, the drug can cause aggression, paranoia and hallucinations. Photo: Dea
According to Verstka, one in ten Russian soldiers uses drugs. They are delivered directly to the trenches in the occupied territories.
In addition to “salt”, it is also about amphetamines, mephedrone and marijuana. Couriers are either local people or volunteer messengers who simultaneously deliver equipment to the front.
– The soldiers use drugs because they are bored. War means you are constantly waiting for something, sometimes praying for it to end. When I was smoking “salt” in the trenches, I didn’t give a damn if I could get out [av paranoia]. The sadness is much worse, says the soldier.
Paranoia and hallucinations
Among the side effects of the drugs are precisely paranoia and hallucinations, because “salt” is also about aggressiveness and self-harming behaviour.
According to Vertska, a Russian soldier can earn the equivalent of approximately SEK 23,200 per month. That is four times more than an average salary in Russia.
The price of the drugs is high. Three doses cost the equivalent of approximately SEK 1,700. In the newly won areas of Ukraine, the price is double.
– I don’t think that the prices of “salt” have caused anyone to hesitate. I have seen drugged Russian soldiers and not just once. They didn’t seem to be in their right mind,” said Vadim, an addict from Russian-occupied Mariupol, adding that he knows many Ukrainian soldiers also took drugs.
Shaking and sweating profusely
Another of those interviewed tells the news site that a 27-year-old friend joined the army, despite a three-year drug addiction.
– How he managed to pass the medical examination in Moscow is the big question, says soldier Kirill.
The 27-year-old is said to have then started shaking and sweating profusely and was unable to move during a military assignment.
– But don’t paint a picture that we are fighting high from the trenches. I haven’t heard of it. They drink a lot at the front, but if they fight when they’re high… hell knows, says a special forces soldier who says the boredom is the worst.
– I have fired my weapon twice since March 2022.
Drugs among Swedish soldiers
Increasing drug abuse among combat soldiers is catastrophic, says David Bergman, PhD in psychology and major at the Defense University in Stockholm.
– Drugs have had two purposes in war. One is that you want drugs that are somehow performance-enhancing, so that you can endure more in an extreme environment. The second is both during and after battles to blunt it, he says.
David Bergman, PhD in psychology and major at the Swedish Defense Academy in Stockholm. Photo: Defense University
– Drugs in war are partly a symptom of soldiers not feeling well, and partly a recipe for soldiers becoming more aggressive. Soldiers who use drugs may lack the same ethical finesse, if they had any, and cross further lines that are not productive.
Lars-Erik Gyllestad, department director at the HR department of the Armed Forces, points out that there is a difference between Sweden and other countries, because Swedish soldiers apply for international assignments voluntarily and are motivated to carry it out.
But have there been drug problems among Swedish soldiers?
– As far as I know, we have very few identified events that can be linked to drugs. From the headquarters’ side, we have no knowledge that it would be a big problem, he says.
FACTS Opium as a weapon
• Opium was used as a weapon in war in 1839, when the British smuggled strong Indian opium into China and at the same time attacked more Chinese port cities. The war became known as the Opium War.
• During the American Civil War (1861–1865), dysentery among the soldiers was treated with opium pills, 400,000 became addicted.
• During World War II came the drug that made soldiers alert, more aggressive, dulled pain and took away the feelings of hunger: methamphetamine, a modified form of amphetamine, today called crystal meth.
• Among the first to gain access to the centrally stimulating drug named Pervitin were German soldiers, who used the drug when Poland was conquered in 1939.
• According to information, 35 million tablets were distributed to the soldiers during April–May 1940.
• The British developed their own variant: Benzedrine.
• In 1941, Pervitin was banned, then the Germans had discovered the addiction, and classified it as a narcotic.
• In 1943, Eisenhower ordered half a million tablets for the American troops in North Africa.
• In the German author Norman Ohler’s book “Drugs in the Third Reich: the Doped Blitzkrieg” it is stated that Adolf Hitler was addicted to drugs throughout the Second World War. Source: Hitler’s private physician Theodor Morell’s notes.
• In the fall of 1944, Ohler states in his book that Hitler was under the influence of both cocaine and Eukodal, a strong opioid related to heroin that today goes by the name Oxicodone, during his last year. For a period he took both drugs at the same time.
• Well into the 2000s, amphetamine-based “go-pills” have been used in the US military, for example during long flights.
• During the Vietnam War, American soldiers had access to drugs such as marijuana, morphine and opium. Only in 1971 did the army begin to combat drug use.
Sources: Popular history, Military history, SVT Vetenskap, World history
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