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Cheap, easy-to-make amphetamine pill fueling Syria civil war by keeping ISIS fighters alert for days
MailOnline ^ | 19 November 2015 | By Jennifer Newton

Posted on 11/19/2015 7:31:54 PM PST by dennisw

This amphetamine pill helps ISIS fighters stay alert and on their feet for days at a time during long, grueling battles. Called Captagon The highly addictive drugs are easy-to-make and are widely available They help extremists stay alert for days on end during long gun battles Trade of the drug is thought to provide cash for weapons and ammunition

The small tablets of the highly addictive substance Captagon are produced in Syria and is widely available across the Middle East.

It is thought that the trade of the drugs brings in millions of dollars in revenue to Syria, providing funding for weapons and ammunition.

The drug was first produced in the West in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression, but by the 1980s was banned in most countries because of its addictive properties and no longer has a legitimate medical use.

Its active ingredient, fenethylline, is metabolised by the body into the stimulants amphetamine and theophylline.

Lebanese psychiatrist Ramzi Haddad says the drug has the typical effects of a stimulant.

He explained: 'It gives you a kind of euphoria. You're talkative, you don't sleep, you don't eat, you're energetic.

Production is cheap and simple, requiring only basic knowledge of chemistry and a few scales.'

Syrian state media regularly mention Captagon pills, which sell for between $5 and $20, as one of the items government forces seize alongside weapons when they capture rebel fighters or raid their bases.

A drug control officer in the central city of Homs said he had observed the effects of Captagon on protesters and fighters held for questioning.

He told Reuters news agency: 'We would beat them, and they wouldn't feel the pain. Many of them would laugh while we were dealing them heavy blows.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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To: dennisw

Ummmm. Wide scale drug addiction plus inbreeding. As they say, God works in mysterious ways.


21 posted on 11/19/2015 8:02:45 PM PST by mosaicwolf (Strength and Honor)
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To: r_barton
Alternatively, just spread the rumor: Captagon is made with BACON!


22 posted on 11/19/2015 8:03:41 PM PST by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: Pearls Before Swine

Every rose has it’s thorn


23 posted on 11/19/2015 8:12:16 PM PST by logitech
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To: logitech

whoops. I think... its


24 posted on 11/19/2015 8:14:52 PM PST by logitech
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To: dennisw

keeping ISIS fighters alert for days ................ So? I guess that means the Russians will kill them while their eyes are open. Does it matter? s/


25 posted on 11/19/2015 8:15:08 PM PST by Bringbackthedraft (In the words of Oliver Hardy; "Another fine mess you have gotten us into.")
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To: Argus

“...[Webb] Pierce said “Red, what you carryin’ in that cigarette pack?”
I said: “I got my second driver an’ he’s gonna drive all the way back.”
It’s a big black pill, so long an’ round,
To a driver, it’s a west coast turnaround,
It’s for the fever,
That ol’ freightliner fever.”

Red Sovine - ‘Freightliner Fever’ :)


26 posted on 11/19/2015 8:16:48 PM PST by mkjessup (Trump & Cruz are the ONLY candidates to which we can trust America's security.)
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To: Argus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6dB6ZT9n7Y


27 posted on 11/19/2015 8:19:10 PM PST by mkjessup (Trump & Cruz are the ONLY candidates to which we can trust America's security.)
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To: Pride in the USA

Jeeze. On top of everything else, they’re all a bunch of tweakers.


28 posted on 11/19/2015 8:21:57 PM PST by lonevoice (Life is short. Make fun of it.)
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To: dennisw

I recall reading similar stories about the Al Qaeda jihadis being all hopped up on speed in Iraq.


29 posted on 11/19/2015 8:25:09 PM PST by 43north (BHO: 50% black, 50% white, 100% RED.)
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To: dennisw

Very similar to fighting Islamic Moro warriors in Phillipines last century.

Moro used local narcotics plus wrapped muscles with leathers and grasses making them harder to kill. And deadly in hand to hand combat...Hence development of .45ACP

Good article about what brought about development of model 1911

http://republicforge.com/our-story/history-1911


30 posted on 11/19/2015 8:30:15 PM PST by gettinolder
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To: dennisw

Who put the benzedrine in Mr. Muhammed’s Ovaltine?


31 posted on 11/19/2015 8:31:30 PM PST by oblomov
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To: dennisw

crap. there’s nothing worse than a chatty jihadist.


32 posted on 11/19/2015 8:33:22 PM PST by JohnBrowdie (http://forum.stink-eye.net)
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To: dennisw

The Nazis used crystal Methamphetamine to keep their soldiers going.


33 posted on 11/19/2015 8:37:52 PM PST by P-Marlowe (Tagline pending.)
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To: dennisw

“amphetamine and theophylline.”

Theophylline is found in chocolate. It’s one of the reasons you shouldn’t give your dogs chocolate (although I admit to cheating a little).


34 posted on 11/19/2015 8:40:03 PM PST by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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To: L,TOWM

thanks


35 posted on 11/19/2015 8:40:23 PM PST by digger48
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To: r_barton

Oh hell no, liberal DBs would be falling over themselves for us to care for them!


36 posted on 11/19/2015 8:47:10 PM PST by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: digger48

I think it’s receptor overload. Giving a child all wide awake a bit of coffee will usually put them to sleep too, old home remedy.


37 posted on 11/19/2015 8:50:20 PM PST by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: VanShuyten

That’s theobromine in chocolate, though theophylline is similar...


38 posted on 11/19/2015 8:55:44 PM PST by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: r_barton

I don’t think the bulk of them will ever get past five years of usage. First, once you start...you get charged up and don’t think about eating, so you skip meals and you lose weight. In a matter of six months of heavy usage (daily), you probably will thirty pounds easily. After a year? Probably sixty pounds. None of these guys were 200-lb to start with, so they’ve got issues about a year into this.

Second, while the Saudis have a big rehab program for their folks (reportedly 50,000 a year)....who exactly in Syria is running a rehab program? The guys in charge won’t do it. So a guy will just keep using until he’s finished and near death.

Third, mentally....you have to ask yourself...how long can you go in a state of mind like this....being charged up? Eventually, you will start to imagine things, react in stupid ways, and do things that you would normally never do.

I think you are looking at a huge recruitment drive being required because they can’t maintain this force more than two years max.


39 posted on 11/19/2015 9:22:58 PM PST by pepsionice
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To: Axenolith

From Wiki:

“Theophylline is naturally found in cocoa beans. Amounts as high as 3.7 mg/g have been reported in Criollo cocoa beans.”


40 posted on 11/19/2015 10:06:40 PM PST by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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