Hamas Attackers Used Amphetamine-Like Drug

Glenn Reynolds linked to an article at Hot Air about evidence that the October 7 Hamas attackers were using Captagon, a trademarked name for Fenethylline, and throwing in as an aside that Germany, in World War II, issued methamphetamine to its troops. (Reynolds says "Nazis" but the it was issued to troops throughout the German military and not just to the SS or other specifically Nazi groups). 

    The Hot Air article was actually just a snippet of a longer piece at 1945 entitled "Is Crystal Meth The Next Syrian Narco-Weapon?" The headline is misleading because, as noted above, the drug involved is not "crystal meth" but a different drug. But I guess "crystal meth" is better click bate. Anyway, the article relates:

    Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. Israeli forces apparently found captagon pills stuffed inside the pockets of deceased terrorists, who used the amphetamine-like drug to remain calm and alert during their bloody assault. This discovery is the latest sign that the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad has yet to close up shop on its narco-trafficking operations. 

    Assad pledged to crack down on the drug trade as part of a deal to end his diplomatic isolation. But his concessions were cosmetic and left him better positioned to wrest additional concessions from his neighbors, the Biden administration, and other international actors. To head off this threat, the U.S. should work with its allies and partners to disrupt trafficking networks and reduce demand before the Syrian regime expands its operations—and funnels drugs to Iran-backed terrorists eager to carry out further attacks. 

(See also this Al Jazeera artice on the Syrian trade in this drug). The U.S. Department of Justice has this to say about Fenethylline and the Middle-East:

Fenethylline, commonly known by the trademark name Captagon, is a synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant that has been clandestinely produced in southern Europe and trafficked through Turkey to the consumer markets on the Arabian Peninsula. It is one of the most popular drugs of abuse among the young affluent populations of the Middle East. Fenethylline is a central nervous system stimulant with effects similar to amphetamine. In small to moderate doses, it causes elevations in heart rate, body temperature, respiration, and blood pressure. Over the long-term, amphetamine use can have a number of side effects, including, but not limited to, extreme depression, lethargy, sleep deprivation, heart and blood vessel toxicity, and malnutrition. Authorities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar report that the use of fenethylline is prevalent among their younger, affluent citizens. In the United State fenethylline has been a controlled substance on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act since 1981. It does not have an accepted medical use in the United States and is not approved for distribution. According to open source reporting, counterfeit Captagon tablets have been reported in Saudi Arabia since the late 1980's. The majority of these tablets have contained mixtures of drugs capable of inducing effects similar to those of fenethylline. As available stocks of diverted fenethylline are depleted and the availability of chemicals for the clandestine production of the drug fluctuate, increasing amounts of counterfeit Captagon will likely be the trend.

While I understand the propaganda value of why Glenn is attempting to compare Hamas to the Nazis, the reality is that many nations have issued drugs to their troops to help them stay awake and focused. Wikipedia has a short article on the topic of the use of drugs in various militaries (although incomplete as it, for example, completely skips over marijuana use by U.S. troops in the WWII). 

    But as to the specific topic of militaries issuing stimulants, while Germany certainly was the heaviest user of amphetamines during WWII, the article notes that the British also issued 72 million amphetamine tablets during the course of the war. The U.S. has a history of issuing stimulants to troops, starting with coffee (caffeine) during the Civil War and cigarettes (nicotine) starting in World War I and carried through World War II and later conflicts. The article has this telling quote from General Pershing in World War I: "You ask me what we need to win this war. I answer tobacco as much as bullets. Tobacco is as indispensable as the daily ration; we must have thousands of tons without delay." Of course, with the health effects of cigarettes well understood, the U.S. military has switched to other products, including "Rip It" energy drink (see "The history of Rip It, the beverage that fueled US troops in Iraq and beyond," and "Energy Drinks – The Unsung Hero Of The Global War On Terror") and I've seen discussions on forum boards about combining it with other legal medications or stimulants to get a super stimulant effect. In WWII, the U.S. issued amphetamine to its bomber crews. The U.S. has been researching a stimulant called modafinil (although I don't know if it is currently issued to pilots or other forces). Another article on the topic relates:

The U.S. military officially approved amphetamines in 1960. Since then, we’ve employed them in Vietnam, Panama, Libya, and during the first Gulf War. Today, all four branches of the U.S. armed forces authorize the use of dextroamphetamine under specific conditions. The Army rations caffeine gum, and every survey suggests that most U.S. aircrews, when in action, use stimulants.

    During World War I, up until 1916, the British Army distributed cocaine-containing pills under the brand name "Forced March". And in the closing days of World War II, the Germans began issuing a compound called DI-X which combined both cocaine and amphetamines.  

    I couldn't find much on the Soviet use of methamphetamine or other stimulants during WWII (perhaps they were too poor to buy any). But during WWII, the Russians had the additional problem of troops operating in extreme cold and began issuing its troops a drug called 2,4-Dinitrophenol – a potent high explosive, herbicide, and weight-loss drug that made the troops feel warm even as it sped up their metabolism. 

    In short, then, the drugs found on the dead Hamas killers may be part of the larger culture of drug use throughout the Middle-East and of no special significance, or they may have been specifically given to the troops to allow them to fight longer without fatigue setting in. But if the latter case, it is common among all militaries in the modern era, and not just something done by the bad guys; and, therefore, again of no special significance other than the possibility that Hamas expected its men to be fighting over an extended period of time (which brings us back to the rabbit hole of why the long response time for Israel and reports that IDF troops were told to stand down). 

    Frankly, you might want to include energy drinks, caffeine pills, or something similar in your preps: in the face of a major disaster or after one, you may be up and working for long hours filling sandbags, covering or taping windows, rounding up livestock, etc.; and, if worried about theft or attack, having to stand long watches.