Junk Science? Number 95: Legal claims flying over anti-malarial drug Lariam

Legal claims flying over anti-malarial drug Lariam

Hundreds of legal claims are being persued over the drug Lariam. Already a controversial drug after it was implicated when Staff Sergeant Robert Bales massacred 16 peaceful Afghan villagers in 2012, it was made an anti-malarial drug of last resort by the Ministry of Defence in the UK.

One wonders why it was not actually banned.

Instead the UK Commons Select Committee has thrown a claim of ‘Lamentable weakness at the MoD, because they handed out the drug to soldiers before deployment without screening them for psychiatric issues.

Roche, the manufacturers, admitted to the committee that it should not just be handed out to anyone, but even then some of the stories question the validity of the drug for any use. One Sergeant described how he spent three days just “rocking back and forwards in his tent”, calling it “an out of body experience”. Perfectly healthy Major General Alastair Duncan who was previously acting Chief of Staff for the UN, is now confined to a secure psychiatric unit. His wife fully blames the drug Lariam.

Lariam costs less than other such anti-malarial drugs, hence its use with the armed forces.