The use of drugs in WW1

[centurion]

Why is rum always the choice of the armed forces? Odd.

Because in many wars the enemy was the French who cut off supplies of Brandy and Whiskey (from whatever Celtic nation) was long regarded as a form of firewater that could lead to all sorts of evils. Gin was quite beyond the pale as British experience in the 18th Century (when for a short while a form of prohibition had to be introduced - resulting in bootleggers, forms of speakeasy and slot machines were introduced) labeled this as the demon drink. The French had the opposite problem as supplies of rum from the West Indies were cut off. So Rum sodden British sailors fought Brandy soaked French sailors. (No I don't know what France used in WW1)

BTW Rum not Whiskey was the main tipple in the saloons of the 'Wild West' but tell that to Hollywood!

[geraint]

.(No I don't know what France used in WW1)

BTW Rum not Whiskey was the main tipple in the saloons of the 'Wild West' but tell that to Hollywood!

They were given a wine ration, but the pastis (aniseed spirit Ricard/Pernod) is also mentioned in quite a few French sources.

[Gunner Bailey]

Why is rum always the choice of the armed forces? Odd.

I think it was be because it's the only spirit that traditionally came in a concentrated form and could be diluted as required. Transport a gallon, add a gallon of water on site and you have a cost effective and efficient method of delivery.

Gunner Bailey

[truthergw]

They were given a wine ration, but the pastis (aniseed spirit Ricard/Pernod) is also mentioned in quite a few French sources.

They also got a kind of brandy much scoffed at but never refused to my knowledge.

[centurion]

I think it was be because it's the only spirit that traditionally came in a concentrated form and could be diluted as required. Transport a gallon, add a gallon of water on site and you have a cost effective and efficient method of delivery.

Actually that's how Brandy came to be! It applies to any strong spirit

[David Porter]

Edgar Sidney Cooper, 497 and 604246, of Shropshire RHA, had his tonsils removed under a cocaine local anesthetic at Fargo Hospital in early 1916. His service record can be found on Ancestry.

[John Gilinsky]

Odd that no one has mentioned caffeine. Caffeine in concentrated capsulets (glass) were manufactured by drug manufacturers pre-war and used by the Continental European armies (at least the German armies through the war). A Canadian doctor's memoir recounts coming across such medical supplies captured and using them to good effect to keep the Canadian soldiers going. I guess there was no Tim Horton's around!

[auchonvillerssomme]

The online copy of this book is useful for general facts.

http://books.google.com/books?id=h1AnD8ePW...p;hl=en#PPP1,M1

My Post Grad Diploma is in Addiction Studies and somewhere I have some work I did on opiate addiction following WW1 which was broken into 2 parts, those addicted to prescribed medication and the use of drugs for pleasure (although as you will probably realise following their experiences during WW1 pleasure probably isn't the best word).

As a side note an interesting fact about Heroin is that it was originally marked as a non addictive substitute for morphine....it is actually 4 times stronger.

Mick

[Desdichado]

You can still find old rum bottles for sale in markets around Flanders. Some are marked "SRD" which the Tommies said stood for "Seldom or Rarely Delivered". I'm sure there were other sayings too.

[Ron Clifton]

Four small puncture marks on the outer aspect of the upper left arm such as left by the insertion of a hypodermic needle.

Hello Spud

I wonder if the autopsy was performed by a civilian doctor? Army practice was to vaccinate all soldiers against smallpox and my father (veteran of WW2) certainly carried four puncture marks on the outer aspect of his upper left arm from this cause. They were in fact small circular marks rather than pinpricks, but the doctor in Istanbul may not have recognised them as such.

On the matter of absinthe, Marcus Brigstocke's new radio show "I've never seen Star Wars" had him inviting Phill Jupitus to sample some, said to be made with wormwood. Phill was virtually speechless after one taste!

Ron

[Spud Trevor]

Hello Ron,

The autopsy was performed by an army doctor. It was carried out at the 82nd General Hospital by a Captain Cooper of the R.A.M.C. The different results were sent to the records and pensions office. I presume it may have had a bearing on any pension entitlement, the chap actually attested in August 1914 and served throughout the war.

Interestingly I could see no mention of cause of death communicated to his parents, although there is correspondence between the army and his family in his file.

I'm not sure if this is an isolated case or was more indicative of drug taking in the army in Turkey at this time.

Regards,

Spud

[MacNeil]

Yes, I know it's been three years since this thread was last posted on, but I thought I'd my bit too.

From Bullets and Billets by Bruce Bairnsfather.

"We first went to a 'pharmacie' and got some boxes of morphia tablets, after which we went to an ironmonger's... and each bought a ponderous pair of barbed wire cutters. So what with wire clippers and morphia tablets, we were gay. About four o'clock we calmed down a bit, and went back to the same restaurant where we had lunched."

Sounds like Bainrnsfather had a very pleasant afternoon!

[WhiteStarLine]

It wasn't only the soldiers buying drugs. This notice was in the December 1918 AIF Routine Orders.

Undesirable Characters: Members of the AIF on leave in London are warned that undesirable characters are employing small tablets of the appearance of saccharine which they proffer for use for the purpose of drugging and subsequent robbery. The action of the drug contained in the above tablets is to produce almost immediate drowsiness followed by complete stupor, with a slight loss of memory on recovery, rendering them incapable of giving any detailed account of what has happened.

[MichaelBully]

I was thinking about this issue recently. I think that DORA provisions were extended to cover narcotics around 1916. Will have to see if I can find a reference .

This thread might be of interest concerning Cocaine.

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=134726&st=0&p=1281636&fromsearch=1entry1281636

Yes, I know it's been three years since this thread was last posted on, but I thought I'd my bit too.

From Bullets and Billets by Bruce Bairnsfather.

"We first went to a 'pharmacie' and got some boxes of morphia tablets, after which we went to an ironmonger's... and each bought a ponderous pair of barbed wire cutters. So what with wire clippers and morphia tablets, we were gay. About four o'clock we calmed down a bit, and went back to the same restaurant where we had lunched."

Sounds like Bainrnsfather had a very pleasant afternoon!

[Ron Clifton]

Am I right in thinking that the existence of licensing hours for British pubs dates back to the WW1 period, to discourage excessive alcohol consumption by munitions workers and those in other key industries?

Ron

[RammyLad1]

Yes Ron you are right ,it was the defence of the realm act 1914 bought in to limit pub opening times .I dont know how effective it was because munition workers were still turning out duff shells in 1915!

Duncan

[MichaelBully]

Consulting 'Wilde's Last Stand- Decadence, Conspiracy & The First World War' by Philip Hoare...

DORA 40b , passed on 28th July 1916, forbade possession of opium and cocaine for anyone else besides 'authorised persons'.

Some twelve drugs were banned for soldiers as from June 1918, unless prescribed.

[MichaelBully]

Also can add that U boat crews used opium to induce constipation ( one of the general side effects of opiates ) when out at sea !

[James A Pratt III]

It was mentioned on the aerodrome.com some years ago the German ace Ernst Freiherr Von Althaus was a herion user. He had to steal to feed his habit and was jailed. He was let out to command an Infantry company and captured towards the end of the war. The use of poor quality ###### by him during WW I is what caused his eyesight to deteriate and to got blind post WW I.

King George V in April 1915 after reading reports of drunken munition works decided to lead by example and give up drink for the rest of WW I.

[eveanne]

Just my thoughts

Possibly the rum ration was due to trading with the West Indies, and perhaps to do with the Royal Navy. Rum would be transported in barrels, thus easily transferred into smaller earthenware 'rum jars' for distribution amongst the troops.

[truthergw]

Just my thoughts

Possibly the rum ration was due to trading with the West Indies, and perhaps to do with the Royal Navy. Rum would be transported in barrels, thus easily transferred into smaller earthenware 'rum jars' for distribution amongst the troops.

Rum was thought to have medicinal value as well as the obvious benefits because it was made from molasses.

[auchonvillerssomme]

My Post Grad Diploma was 'Addiction Studies and Addictive Behaviours'. This included the history of drug use, an interesting subject. For anyone wanting a good read on the UK's part in introducing the world to opium have a read of 'Foreign Mud, An Account of the Opium War' by Maurice Collis (1947) an oldie but useful.

[Lachlan]

QUOTE (centurion @ Sep 19 2008, 12:17 PM) In France - you could still pop across the border into Switzerland and glug yourself into insensibility on it. I believe that a small plant still produces some to this day. I suspect that bottles of the stuff would make their way into France from time to time.

I've seen bottles of absinthe for sale in a bottle shop in York but I assume that wormwood is no longer used in its manufacture.

I've got a bottle of Absinthe in my house even as we speak ! 72 % proof. You're supposed to drip ice water over a slotted teaspoon with a sugar cube on it in order to dilute and sweeten it, often into a specially-shaped glass. A friend of mine drunk a whisky glass of it neat at a party we had recently and declared it a bit bitter !

[James A Pratt III]

I just finished reading the book "The General and the Jaugar" dealing with the U.S. Army's hunt for Pancho Villa 1916-17. It does mention a Military Police report of Cocaine and morphine use by U.S. troops involved in this operation.

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

I posted this on a similar subjust on another site?

The use of certain types of drugs was comenly used by soldiers during all wars including the LH in Egypt/Palestine. If I remember right cocine or opites was still legal at that time and many other drugs used it as a base, as they still do today.

I have ID two types in use, that being the smoking of Hemp (used to make the ropes of the time) and harsh a comen drug smoked in the East.

Now the first was used when there was no tobacco around, and how much of there guide ropes went into the soldiers tobac pipe (in comen use during all wars since the 1600's, hell even I still smoke a pipe) is open to congeture here?

The second Hash was as far as I am aware illiegal to use by soldiers of the British Empire. I show a small number of soldiers crimed over the use of this drug, and in one case (A Provost NCO) was dismissed over it.

See the records of these men;

IRONSIDE Stanley William 726 Pte 02 LHR 2R (G) att WFF to S/Sgt AProvC Cairo to A/QMS Port Said Foot Police FGCM possion of 11 kilos of hashish sentenced 2 years at HL in prison SNLR forfit all medals

PURDON Andrew Aarniel 1602 Pte 3Bn 3R to BCo (G) to Records Sect AIF HQ FGCM hashish to 2Co/1Bn ICC to batman to Lt Goldenstedt 13Co/4Bn to LH Dtls to ER 2/Cpl APayC AIF HQ (British Glasgow TA)

S.B