Activity 4 Post

War is a dangerous game. It turns men into pawns with weapons, looking to kill anyone for the other team. It’s an environment that only the bravest of men enter, which is why I’m  not opposed to the use of amphetamines by fighter pilots in the U.S. military. If they want to take the pills, whose to say they shouldn’t be able to? These men risk their lives to protect millions of people they don’t know, so if taking drugs helps keep them alive by preventing fatigue, then take those drugs. Obviously, there can be side affects down the line, but there are side affects from being at war completely sober, I don’t think 5-10 mg of Dexedrine is going to make things much worse. What it can do is prevent those 100+ deaths of fighter pilots who crashed due to fatigue. I believe the military is using every bit of ethics they can in providing these pills. The most ethical thing to do is to provide your pilots with every opportunity to do their job at the highest level, and by beating fatigue, Dexedrine assists in that regard. On top of that, the military takes strict count of how many pills were consumed on the mission and takes back whatever should be leftover from the amount given out preflight. 

When talking about whether or not a pilot’s career will suffer if they do not take amphetamines, it’s really impossible to determine because it’s completely objective. It’s like asking if a baseball player’s career will suffer if they don't take steroids? First off, is “suffer” just saying that they won’t be as accurate in dropping bombs or is saying they’ll give in to fatigue and potentially crash? I think every individual would be affected in their career differently, with those who tire more easily being much more likely to be prone to accident, thus having the greater need for Dexedrine. The consequences of taking Dexedrine in this line of work are directly tied to the side effects, which can include anxiousness, hypertension, elevated blood pressure, restlessness, and nervousness. Obviously these affects can affect someone’s ability to function, as well, but that’s where it needs to be determined which affect can cause greater harm to the pilot and others, the fatigue factor that the amphetamine prevents or the side effects it creates? In the tests with helicopters where pilots were sleep deprived and then asked to do certain aerial tasks, those that took Dexedrine performed better than those that did not, so perhaps that provides an answer. Some strategies to reduce the consequences of amphetamines would include taking the recommended dose, as well as allowing pilots to fly short missions in between those that require drugs to prevent a dependance between flying and a need for the drug.

As we discussed in class, a Schedule 2 drug is one with high levels of abuse potential, but also serves some form of a medical purpose, as is the case for these fighter pilots. The military’s prescriptions for Dexedrine allow them to provide the “go-pills” to fighter pilots to help them stay awake. We also talked about how this type of use is classified as illegal-instrumental, where even though it’s illegal, it’s for a socially accepted reasons. College students are also known for using amphetamines to focus, as is seen with Adderall. Despite the strong chance of abuse with amphetamines, I think they serve an important use for fighter pilots that ultimately need every advantage possible when going into these life-or-death situations.