[Clive]

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[LadyDoc]

Amphetemines were used a lot in the 1960s to stay awake. Students used them, and so did truckdrivers. They were not considered "narcotics".

What changed things is the problems: If you take too many or too long, you can "crash" afterward. And if you go without sleep too long, your judgement goes, then you can hallucinate. After a few horrendous truck crashes, they made them Class II narcotics, which are harder to obtain

[buffyt]

Pilots taking uppers to stay awake on long missions.... I heard last night that the military is studying the possiblity of soldiers staying awake for seven days at a time, the story was that dolphins do this. They use part of their brain while the other part sleeps. They want to see if human soldiers can do this. I hope they are considering the possible bad side effects of staying awake too long. The brain can start playing tricks on you. Just like when they gave me sleeping pills in the hospital. The first night is was OK. By the third night I was hallucinating all night. That was my brain playing tricks on me. It didn't like the lack of sleep or the drug.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The Canadian board of inquiry said "go pills" have been used for more than 30 years.

Actually, they have been used for more than 60 years by military pilots. My father was a WWII bomber pilot in the South Pacific. They regularly flew missions lasting more than twelve hours and "speed" was commonly used. The crews tried to sleep on their cots in tents in the jungle heat and humidity between missions. The missions were obviously very dangerous. Men were keyed up and could not get proper rest. When they had to go again, they were trying to fly without proper rest so pills were a way to stay alert to get the job done. It was a vicious spiral.

[heckler]

Two Pilots made an honest mistake, they were told not to fire but honestly thought they were under attack and fired despite their orders. The victims of their mistake were Canadians. Our relations with the Canadian govt. are somewhat strained so the pilots are being dealt with somewhat more severely than they normally would be. The pilots feel that they are getting the shaft so they hire a P.R. agent who cooks up an excuse...The U.S. govt. is jacking their pilots up with something a little stronger than coffee...and shops it around the network news organizations. 20/20 bites because it likes taking backhanded slaps at the military especially when it's being run by a bunch of Republicans.

Am I nuts, or do you all need another cup of joe this morning?