Drug policy of Nazi Germany

Pervitin, an early form of methamphetamine, was widely used in Nazi Germany and was available without a prescription.

The generally tolerant official drug policy in the Third Reich, the period of Nazi control of Germany from the 1933 Machtergreifung to Germany's 1945 defeat in World War II, was inherited from the Weimar government which was installed in 1919 following the dissolution of the German monarchy at the end of World War I.

Historical background

Before the First World War, the collaborative research efforts of the German university system and German corporations enabled the German corporate sector as a whole to obtain a virtual worldwide monopoly on drugs whose production required chemical expertise and industrial capacity. This research was fueled by revenues from the sale of morphine, an alkaloid found in opium, first identified by a German chemist in the early 19th century and patented by Merck soon afterward. German pharmaceutical companies' work with morphine and its derivatives found particular success in using them as pain relievers and cough suppressants, with Bayer eventually recognizing the potency of heroin, which was legal in Germany at the time (and until the 1950s, before which it was banned only in Asia and the United States). During the era of the German Empire, consolidated in the late 1860s and early 1870s, the German government's militaristic inclinations prompted it to add financial support to research in sectors including pharmaceuticals and optimization of industrial processes.

The unprecedented casualties of World War I brought the need for treatment of acute and chronic pain, the means of treating that pain, and the side effects of that treatment, including opioid dependence, to the forefront of public consciousness.

Civilian-sector drug policy in Nazi Germany

The German populace's experience during and after the First World War inspired the Weimar and Nazi governments to adopt an attitude of tolerance toward the use of drugs to relieve pain, increase performance, and avoid withdrawal. Most drugs were permitted either universally or for individuals with a medical prescription. Many of the drug addicts in 1920s and 1930s Germany were First World War veterans who required addictive drugs for pain relief and/or medical personnel who had access to such drugs. During the Weimar era, addiction was seen as a curable disease. Following the advent of Nazism, addiction continued to be viewed as curable for all. Among members of such groups, symptoms of drug addiction were often attributed to other conditions, which themselves were often pseudoscientifically diagnosed; even when addiction was recognized as such, Nazi physicians often viewed it as incurable in light of what they believed to be an inherent predisposition or weakness.

Drug policy and use within the Wehrmacht

Drug use in the German military during World War II was actively encouraged and widespread, especially during the war's later stages as the Wehrmacht became depleted and increasingly dependent on youth as opposed to experience.

Stimulants

In 1938 Pervitin, a methamphetamine drug newly developed by the Berlin-based Temmler Pharma, was introduced to the civilian market and quickly became endemic among the German population. It was particularly popular among people who worked night shifts and young recreational drug users, both of whom often stayed awake late into the night, because the drug increased alertness, confidence, concentration, and risk-taking behavior, in addition to reducing sensitivity to pain, hunger, and tiredness. Nazi military doctor Otto Friedrich Ranke tested the drug on 90 university students to study its effects, which led him to conclude that Pervitin could help Germany win the war.

Methamphetamine use is believed to have played a role in the speed of Germany's initial blitzkrieg.

At the request of Vice-Admiral Hellmuth Heye for a stronger pill that would "keep soldiers ready for battle when they are asked to continue fighting beyond a period considered normal," a pharmacologist produced a pill dubbed D-IX. The new drug contained cocaine, whose effects substantially overlap with those of amphetamine but feature greater euphoria, and a morphine-based painkiller in addition to Pervitin.

Alcohol

At the start of World War II, alcohol consumption was widespread among members of the Wehrmacht. At first, high-ranking officials encouraged its use as a means of relaxation and a crude method of mitigating the psychological effects of combat, in the latter case through what later scientific developments would describe as blocking the consolidation of traumatic memories. After the Fall of France, however, Wehrmacht commanders observed that their soldiers' behavior was deteriorating, with "fights, accidents, mistreatment of subordinates, violence against superior officers and "crimes involving unnatural sexual acts" becoming more frequent. The Commander-in-Chief of the German military, General Walther von Brauchitsch, concluded that his troops were committing "most serious infractions" of morality and discipline, and that the culprit was alcohol abuse. In response, Hitler attempted to curb the reckless use of alcohol in the military, promising severe punishment for soldiers who exhibited public drunkenness or otherwise "allow[ed] themselves to be tempted to engage in criminal acts as a result of alcohol abuse." Serious offenders could expect "a humiliating death." This revised policy accompanied an increase in Nazi Party disapproval of alcohol use in the civilian sector, reflecting an extension to alcohol of the longstanding Nazi condemnation of tobacco consumption as diminishing the strength and purity of the "Aryan race."

Drug use inside the Nazi Party

The extent of Adolf Hitler's drug use is subject to debate. Hitler was in close daily contact with Doctor Theodor Morell, who in 1936 prescribed him cultures of live bacteria to ease his digestive ailments, at which point Hitler made him his personal physician. Dr. Morell's popularity among Hitler's inner circle skyrocketed, and he was sarcastically dubbed by Göring "The Reichsmaster of the Injections." Dr. Morell went on to prescribe powder cocaine to soothe Hitler's throat and clear his sinuses. Some of Hitler's close allies came to strongly distrust Dr. Morell, but when they raised concerns privately, they were sharply rebuked.

Whether Hitler was addicted to amphetamines remains unclear. Recent narratives, including the documentary Hitler's Hidden Drug Habit and Norman Ohler's 2016 book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany claim that he was highly dependent. Ohler claims that when Hitler's drug supplies ran out by the end of the war, he suffered severe withdrawal from serotonin and dopamine, paranoia, psychosis, rotting teeth, extreme shaking, kidney failure and delusion. However, these claims have been harshly criticized by some historians. Other examinations of Hitler's medical records have supported occasional, rather than habitual, use of amphetamines. Hitler's tremors late in life have been popularly attributed to Parkinson's Disease, perhaps induced early by his drug use, whereas Ohler argues amphetamines to have been entirely responsible.

Hermann Göring, Hitler's closest aide, had served in the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I and suffered a severe hip injury during combat. He became seriously addicted to the morphine that was prescribed to him in order to relieve the pain which resulted from this injury and the gunshot wound, variously described as a thigh or groin injury, that he sustained while taking part in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. In 1925, after consulting his wife, he entered a Swedish mental hospital for detoxification and treatment. When Göring was captured near the end of the war, he was found to be addicted to dihydrocodeine and was subsequently weaned off it.

Aftermath

After the war, Pervitin remained easily accessible, both on the black market and as a prescription drug. Doctors prescribed it to patients as an appetite suppressant or they prescribed it in order to improve the moods of patients who were struggling with depression. Students, especially medical students, turned to the stimulant because it enabled them to review more information through the night and finish their studies faster. The drug was removed from the medical supplies of East and West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s respectively, and following German reunification it was deemed illegal in the entire country. Today, a different form of the drug, crystal methamphetamine, has become popular throughout Europe and the United States despite governmental prohibition and eradication efforts.

See also

• Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany
• Drug policy of Germany
• Use of drugs in warfare

Further reading

• Ohler, Norman. Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany (2016), ISBN 0241256992
• The pharmaceutical industry and the German National Socialist Regime: I.G. Farben and pharmacological research