It has been called one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s military history. The 1993 beating death of a Somali teenager at the hands of two Canadian soldiers.
Now, 24 years after the Somalia Affair, some experts say new evidence points to Mefloquine, a controversial anti-malaria drug as one of the driving factors behind the incident. Questions linger about why the drug known to cause psychotic behaviour and suicide was tested on Canadian Forces. The military keeps using it as the evidence piles up and more soldiers return with lasting effects. In “Bad Medicine”, Cullen Crozier speaks to veterans and families searching for answers.
My husband was poisoned with mefloquin in Somolia. He suffers to this day. I work in a bank in a small town and was horrified that a young customer, recently, was given the same disgusting meds and suffered horribly from it. What’s wrong with the military?!
I agree that Mefloquine is a bad drug, however, if you are trying to tie the beating death of a teen by two soldiers to the drug I take pause. In Special Forces we were on Mefloquine as well as other anti-malarial drugs for years at a time during deployments in Asia. Many times doubled up on both Mefloquine and Doxycycline or some other drug.
Of the twenty some years of deployments in Asia with hundreds of special forces soldiers never was there an incident, beatings, murders, rapes or other heinous acts. Just intimating that this might be a “Causation” for the killing is at best inappropriate! Is it a bad drug? Yes! should it be pulled from use? Yes! Trying to provide an out to animals citing possible side effects of the drug is criminal!
I live and work with Davebona and I truly believe he was afected by mefloquine and I think the nation should stand up for its failures and deal with this problem.
As a former member of the Airborne who lost it all post Somalia. Thank you
Stephen Beardwood