Two US F-16 pilots, Major Harry Schmidt and Major William Umbach, mistakenly bombed a Canadian infantry unit, killing four and injuring eight. The use of controversial stimulants by the US military was highlighted after an incident in April 2002 near Kandahar in Afghanistan. French military researchers openly recommend using the drug for 24-hour missions and the French Foreign Legion is known to have used the drug as long ago as 1991 to keep soldiers going during the first Gulf war. If the military was investigating possible uses for Provigil or had already authorised its usage, it would bring it in line with other countries such as the US and France. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, which runs the MoD's research programmes, did not respond to the Guardian's inquiries. Last night, the MoD denied that the drug was given to the armed forces and said it was unaware of any research it was carrying out on the drug. In April, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency decided to allow Provigil to be used to treat "shift work sleep disorder", where people suffer extreme sleepiness because of the odd hours they work.īut the introduction of Provigil, which is also known as modafinil, has raised concern among some doctors who believe that its ability to banish tiredness could be abused. Provigil, which is sold by the Pennsylvania-based company Cephalon, is licensed in Britain to treat tiredness associated with the rare sleeping disorders narcolepsy and obstructive sleep apnoea. In total, the ministry has spent more than £43,000 on the drugs. The next largest order - for more than 4,000 pills - was delivered in 2002, the year before troops entered Iraq. The figures, which were released to the Guardian under the open government code, show that purchases peaked with an order for more than 5,000 pills in 2001, the year allied forces entered Afghanistan. According to figures from the Defence Medical Supplies Agency, which provides medical products "to sustain UK military capability", the MoD has been buying the drug since 1998 at prices at least 10% lower than those charged to the NHS.
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