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And now for a little tongue-in-cheekiness...
Crank Hypocrisy - Government's two-faced message on speed
By Joel Miller - Reason Online
When it comes to the government and its war on drugs, sometimes the right hand doesn't know what the left is peddling. This is especially true regarding the use of amphetamines. From the Drug Enforcement Agency we hear that speed can lead to "addiction, psychotic behavior, and brain damage...Chronic use can cause violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions, and paranoia." Sounds like terrible stuff, right? Not if you listen to the U.S. Air Force. As it happens, American flyboys are given dextroamphetamine—a drug the DEA compares to methamphetamine and which military personnel affectionately refer to as "go pills"—to help them fight battle fatigue and stay knife-edge sharp during their long and difficult shifts. During the war in Afghanistan, "Pilots were allowed to 'self-regulate' their own doses and kept the drugs in their cockpits," reported the unfortunately named Andrew Buncombe for the London Independent. "When they returned, doctors gave them sedatives or 'no-go pills' to help them sleep. Pilots who refused to take the drugs could be banned from taking part in a mission." All well and good—use was so uneventful that most Americans were probably unaware that our airmen were popping pills more potent than aspirin. But then came the event.

posted by A Curmudgeon 10:45 AM