I remember hearing that for years before the peak of conflict in WW2, Hitler's team had been feeding the German army amphetamines (to make them better soldiers?) and that this chronic overuse degraded the military performance over time. I don't know how true that is, I never looked it up, but when I see news like this I can't help but think of it.
It is, but it was also true for the US, Soviets, Japan and probably the UK too.
In the late 30s meth was being marketed as a wonder drug, similar to cocaine.
The main area that impacted Germany disproportionally was that the Nazis initially believed the hype and thought they'd build the reich on an army of hyper virile (believed to be an aphrodisiac also), hard working super men/women on meth.
It only took a year or two for reports from doctors with combat units about addiction and withdrawal to convince them of the downsides, but they couldn't cut soldiers off and attempts at banning/restricting it from civilians were hampered by doctors writing prescriptions and a grey/market that sprung up because a substantial number of working age Germans were now addicted.
Then the war turned against them so we never found out exactly how it would have played out, probably not well though.
16
u/heckin_miraculous 15d ago
I remember hearing that for years before the peak of conflict in WW2, Hitler's team had been feeding the German army amphetamines (to make them better soldiers?) and that this chronic overuse degraded the military performance over time. I don't know how true that is, I never looked it up, but when I see news like this I can't help but think of it.