Are Russian Soldiers Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs?
Drugs and war go together more often than you think.
In November, Ukrainian soldiers told AFP that fighting Wagner forces was like shooting “zombies.”
Then, last week, a Ukrainian soldier told CNN that he was astounded when he saw a gunman hit at least one mercenary soldier only to have him pop back up before eventually falling over while he reportedly bled-out.
One Ukrainian soldier said that he believed they must have been on performance-enhancing drugs after he described how they “climb[ed] above the corpses of their friends, stepping on them” to advance under fire.
Drugs, alcohol, and war have always gone hand in hand
Some of the earliest examples of explicit drug use are found in Homer’s Odyssey, a story of a Trojan War veteran who murders his way across the Aegean.
The Ionian equivalent of LSD, cannabis, and opium tempt Odysseus and his crew at nearly every step of their decade-long journey.
For 1,000 years, alcohol was the most popular pharmacological motivator of young fighters.
Many governments rationed “liquid courage” that would make the fighting more bearable and alleviate the boredom that accompanies war.
