Re-visiting Mefloquine Use at Guantanamo: A Guest Post by Dr. Remington Nevin
Did the CIA direct the U.S. military to administer a powerful antimalarial drug to Guantanamo detainees, not for its antimalarial properties, but for its intoxicating and behavioral side effects as an aid to interrogation? This is the seemingly impenetrable question that I have been exploring for the past few years, ever since Seton Hall Law professor Mark Denbeaux and investigative reporters Jason Leopold and Jeffrey Kaye asked me to review medical files from Guantanamo inmates obtained from the Department of Defense (DoD) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
These FOIA records revealed what on casual inspection seems a benign, even benevolent medical practice: according to standard operating procedures, every detainee arriving at Guantanamo immediately received a curative dose of 1,250mg of the antimalarial drug mefloquine.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 