The Dutch, commerce, drugs and war

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Paulus II
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The Dutch, commerce, drugs and war

Post by Paulus II »

Hi all,

Recently a book was published in The Netherlands telling the story of a businessman and his work during the early decades of the 20th century. Though fiction the book is well researched to provide a credible setting.

It tells about "De Nederlandsche Cocaïnefabriek", a factory that produced cocaine and was owned by the Colonial Bank, a bank that specialised in business with the Dutch colonies and usually dealt with coffee, spices, rubber and the like. This bank was partly owned by the government and the royal family it seems but some further research is needed on that matter.
At the time cocaine was still mostly used for medicinal and psychological purposes (e.g. Sigmund Freud experimented with it) and as an additive for some foodstuffs (Coca Cola contained a minute amount if it).
During World War I the factory expanded because it found a totally new market. Apparently most nations involved in the war bought vast quantities of the stuff to provide to the soldiers in the trenches as it helped to keep them awake, took away the feeling of hunger and brought the men into a devil-may-care-attitude that made it easier for them to go over the top and run straight into the enemy's machinegun fire.
After the war most fighting nations found themselves facing large numbers of addicted veterans that couldn't get there drugs anymore. The book tells of British veterans that attacked and ransacked high street farmacists in their search for the drug.
In an interview the writer says that the problem of the addicted veterans was so large that it was decided to regulate the production and sale of cocaine in those nations and that this was settled in the Treaty of Versailles.

I can't find a passage dealing with cocaine in the copies of the Treaty of Versailles that I have read. Does anyone know exactly where to look?

In 1940 the factory still existed, though reduced in size and producing amfetamines now, and it seems the Wehrmacht took it over in 1942 and started to produce amfetamines for its own use.

Does anyone know more about the use of amfetamines in the Wehrmacht?

Thanks in advance,

Paul
phylo_roadking
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Re: The Dutch, commerce, drugs and war

Post by phylo_roadking »

Amphetamine use was very common during the war; for instance, RAF emergency kits in dingies etc. contained a couple of packets of Benzedrine...no point in floating around asleep in your dingy and missing the gurt big ships sailing by! :D
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sebastian
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Re: The Dutch, commerce, drugs and war

Post by sebastian »

im pretty surprised they already took cocaine in the ww1 trenches,learned something new agioahn today on feldgrau :D :D

Seb
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