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C a p t a g o n : T h e S e c r e t W e a p o n

o f I S I S

by Andrew Arnett

There are reports coming out from Kobani, Syria, of dead ISIS rebels being

found with pills in their possession.

Ekram Ahmet, a Kurd who fled Kobani with his family, told Mirror: They are

filthy, with straggly beards and long black nails.

They have lots of pills with them that they all keep taking. It seems to make

them more crazy if anything.

They become agitated and excited, desperate to punish even children for the

smallest thing.

The Kurds believe these pills are amphetamines, and this would go a long way

to explaining why ISIS members are so maniacal and fight with suicidal

abandon.

The International Business Times has reported on how voice analysis show

that ISIS killer Jihadi Johns distinctive speech pattern may indicate he was

high on amphetamines when beheading captive David Haines.

Most likely, the amphetamines in question fall under the brand name

Captagon.

In January of this year, Reuters reported on how Syria has become a major

consumer and exporter of amphetamines, the most popular being captagon.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/12/us-syria-crisis-drugs-insight-idUSBREA0B04H20140112http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/david-haines-isis-executioner-was-drugs-during-beheading-says-voice-expert-1466017http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-kobane-drug-crazed-isis-savages-4423619

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According to Reuters, captagon generates hundreds of millions of dollars in

annual revenues in Syria, potentially providing funding for weapons, while

the drug itself helps combatants dig in for long, grueling battles.

In 2013, the Lebanese government seized 12.3 million captagon pills near the

border of Lebanon and Syria, while the Turkish police captured 7 million pills

en route from Syria to Saudi Arabia.

In addition, Dubai authorities reported making a seizure of 4.6 million

captagon pills in December of last year.

Captagon is a brand name for the drug Fenethylline, invented in 1961 by

Degussa AG for the treatment of hyperkinetic children, or children

diagnosed with ADHD.

Fenethylline is metabolized by the body to form the compounds amphetamine

and theophylline. Theophylline is a chemical from the Xanthine class, which

also includes caffeine.

Smarter Nootropics states that When Captagon is taken, it becomes in vivo d-

amphetamine and theophylline, and these two new compounds are absorbed

into the blood stream, and can now cross the blood brain barrier and become

centrally active.

A study however, conducted in 2005 by Alabdalla MA for Forensic Science

International of 124 batches of seized captagon, revealed they contained no

fenethylline at all.

Rather, these counterfeit captagon tablets contained amphetamine,

methamphetamine, ephedrine, metronidazole, caffeine, theophylline,

chlorphenamine, procaine, trimethoprim, chloroquine, and quinine. In short,

a drug cocktail far more potent than the original name brand version.

F e n e t h y l l i n e : R S ) - 1 , - d i m e t h y l - - [ - ( - p h e n y l p r o p a n - - y l a m i n o ) e t h y l ] p u r i n e - ,

- d i o n e

http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/15978343/Chemical_characterization_of_counterfeit_captagon_tablets_seized_in_Jordan_http://www.smarternootropics.com/2014/01/captagon-the-smart-drug-fuelling-syrias-civil-war/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophyllinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphetaminehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenethyllinehttp://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001

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Indeed, reports suggest that Syrian insurgent groups ingest a far ranging and

prodigious amount of potent drugs including Baltcon, Afoun,Zolm,

Opium, Heroin, Cocaine, and Hashish.

According to Frank Lamb in CounterPunch: Jihadists high on drugs

apparently feel invincible and hostile and do not fear death. Many are indeed

ferocious and fearless fighters during the day, as many media sources have

reported. But by nightfall, when the drug wears off the fighters become

exhausted and sometimes they are found asleep on the spot they were fighting

from.

To read more about drugs and ISIS by Andrew Arnett click here.

You can follow Andrew Arnett on Twitter at @AndrewArnett.

https://twitter.com/AndrewArnetthttp://thestonedsociety.com/2015/02/08/drugs-isis-captagon/?utm_content=buffer9a72d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferhttp://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/10/performing-key-fighting-roles-in-syria/http://richardedmondson.net/2014/03/07/resisters-of-sykes-picot-land-grab-perform-key-fighting-roles-in-syria/