Though it took over a year for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
to finally do so, the regulatory agency has issued a stern
warning regarding serious neurological and psychiatric side effects associated with mefloquine hydrochloride, a
controversial
antimalarial drug. This was the medication prescribed, by the Army, for
Sergeant Robert Bales. Last year, while on this medication, Bales
attacked and murdered sixteen Afghan civilians.
Sergeant Bales, a respected soldier and father, was on his fourth
deployment in a decade. He is described as an “affable” man but one
whose behavior became uncharacteristically belligerent and
psychotic, common side effects of mefloquine.
Last month, Bales entered a plea of guilty,
saying
in his military court hearing that he had no explanation forwhy he
committed the act. “I’ve asked that question a million times since then,
and there’s not a good reason in the world for why I did the horrible
things I did,” he told the military judge. Bales’ attorney has
confirmed that he took mefloquine during at least three of his deployments.
It was prescribed to treat malaria.
Judicial Watch
has investigated this case for more than a year and believes that the
US Army has some culpability in the massacre. According to records
obtained from the Department of Defense (DOD), the DOD has long been
aware of mefloquine’s serious side effects and in 2009
removed it as
the drug of choice in the treatment of malaria. Mefloquine is
specifically prohibited in the treatment of patients with head injuries,
and in particular, traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Bales did incur a
traumatic brain injury in Iraq in 2010, so DOD policy would have
prohibited the administration of the drug to Bales.
There have been eighty-seven other deaths associated with the medication. Of these, thirty-nine were suicides and twelve were homicides.
Though the DOD’s directive is to limit use of the drug, records obtained by
Judicial Watch show that the agency has continued to buy large quantities of mefloquine:
“Since 2010 the Pentagon bought 2,250,925
mefloquine tablets at a cost of $5,487,130, according to the records
obtained by JW from the Defense Logistics Agency. Nevertheless, the DOD
has refused to confirm or deny if Bales took mefloquine while he served.
Perhaps this week’s
FDA warning will
carry enough weight to convince the Pentagon to stop giving our
soldiers this dangerous pill. ‘Neurologic side effects can occur at any
time during drug use, and can last for months to years after the drug is
stopped or can be permanent,’ the FDA warning reads.”
Bales’ civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, said that Bales had not
wanted to deploy to Afghanistan in the first place. “He was told that he
was not going to be redeployed,” Browne explained. “The family was
counting on him not being redeployed. I think it would be fair to say he
and the family were not happy that he was going back.”
Understandable, considering the highly decorated soldier was on his
fourth deployment. And, in addition to the TBI Bales sustained, he also
lost part of his foot while serving.
The
FDA warning states:
“Neurologic side effects can occur at any time during drug use, and can
last for months to years after the drug is stopped or can be
permanent,” but
Judicial Watch reports the DOD has been mum on the issue, refusing to confirm or deny whether or not Bales took mefloquine while he served.
