‘Not … Like a Rum-Ration’: Amphetamine Sulphate,the Royal Navy,and the Evolution of Policy and Medical Research during the Second World War

Abstract

This article explores the evolution of the Royal Navy’s policy relating to the use of amphetamines during the Second World War. This discussion, which demonstrates the groundbreaking yet restrictive nature of naval drug policy, is placed in the wider context of medical research in the Royal Navy during the conflict, in which the organisation was the last of the Services to develop its own personnel research committee. In turn, the article examines the motivation for utilising the drug, which included considerations relating to both wakefulness, in combat situations, and well-being, in survival at sea situations.