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Reality Bites
I haven't read the book. Just saw the write up and thought I'd share.

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Pervitin: Nazi Germany’s drug of choice.

The book in question is The Total Rush– or, to use its superior English title, Blitzed – which reveals the astonishing and hitherto largely untold story of the Third Reich’s relationship with drugs, including cocaine, heroin, morphine and, above all, methamphetamines (aka crystal meth), and of their effect not only on Hitler’s final days – the Führer, by Ohler’s account, was an absolute junkie with ruined veins by the time he retreated to the last of his bunkers – but on the Wehrmacht’s successful invasion of France in 1940. Published in Germany last year, where it became a bestseller, it has since been translated into 18 languages, a fact that delights Ohler, but also amazes him.

......

I guess drugs weren’t a priority for the historians,” he says. “A crazy guy like me had to come along.” Still, crazy or not, he has done a remarkable job. If Blitzed is gripping, it is also convincing. Ian Kershaw, the British historian who is probably the world’s leading authority on Hitler and Nazi Germany, has described it as “a serious piece of scholarship”.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...f-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview?CMP=twt_gu
 
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I have read many articles online about amphetamine use in Nazi Germany and find the subject totally fascinating. It certainly would account for Hitler's paranoia and mania.

And those little cardboard tubes of amphetamine they doled out to Nazi pilots like GIs got M&Ms.... Yipes!!!

Bear in mind that at the time, it was not uncommon for doctors to give "vitamin shots" which, while they did contain some B vitamins, were primarily pure amphetamine. Here in the US, I mean.

Thanks for the link- I think I will have to read this book!
 
I have read many articles online about amphetamine use in Nazi Germany and find the subject totally fascinating. It certainly would account for Hitler's paranoia and mania.

And those little cardboard tubes of amphetamine they doled out to Nazi pilots like GIs got M&Ms.... Yipes!!!

Bear in mind that at the time, it was not uncommon for doctors to give "vitamin shots" which, while they did contain some B vitamins, were primarily pure amphetamine. Here in the US, I mean.

Thanks for the link- I think I will have to read this book!
Our pilots took "pep pills" too. My dad was one of them in WWII, plus there's an old movie called "The Lifeboat" where a German using amphetamines is central to the plot.
 
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Our pilots took "pep pills" too. My dad was one of them in WWII, plus there's an old movie called "The Lifeboat" where a German using amphetamines is central to the plot.
Yup, my great uncle's training as a tail gunner in WWII included some pep like that.
 
They're probably still using it. Hell, I remember an old business owner I worked for handing it out to our guys working big shows (audio-visual company) which required long hours. Truckers used the pills back in the day and are probably smoking meth nowadays.
 
@McDanel Primus? I never would've pegged you for a fan! ;):D
[doublepost=1475975553,1475806648][/doublepost]I wanted to add this the other night, but my eyes kept closing involuntarily...

Do you remember "mini-thin pills"? I was in high school when I remember seeing them for the first time. You could get them at gas stations/mini marts. I'm guessing they contained ephedra or something similar... Something usually happens a few times a week that reminds me of the dumb shit my friends and I or people we knew did when we were young, and I'm perpetually amazed that someone didn't wind up dead or at least rushed off to the hospital.

I was 36 when the first person I knew died from a drug overdose. A little over 2 weeks ago, it happened again (I'm now 38). In both cases, I had no idea either guy used. (I'm not oblivious; they were casual acquaintances, but I liked them and thought they were very nice, kind guys. I still think that and wish I knew them more.)
[doublepost=1475975887][/doublepost]Holy crap! I looked up those mini thin pills! First of all, YOU CAN STILL GET THEM! (MIND. BLOWN.) Secondly, the ones that were available when we were teenagers contained 2 things: caffeine & ephedra! Jesus! No wonder people wanted them! I don't remember taking them, but I do know I once accidentally took a diet pill in the morning (story for another day), and I pretty much had to be scraped off of the ceiling that night b/c I was so wired!
 
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