R.J. Godlewski's The Independent Counterterrorist. I, Militia. June ...

egular heroin users who are provided with doses in
exchange for protecting routes through their territory.
In fact, their leader, who was killed by Russian special
forces, was betrayed by an informer in exchange for a
dose of heroin. 42
When drug supplies run low, regular drug users
among fighting forces can suffer withdrawal symptoms
which can still lead to the outbreak of violence. For
example, forensic evidence shows that some of the
militants who seized over 1,000 hostages in a southern
Russian school in 2004 were long-time heroin addicts
who were in a state of withdrawal shortly before
the violent outcome which claimed more than 300
lives. 43 Withdrawal can last from a few days in the
cases of cocaine and heroin, to a few months in the
case of methamphetamine, thus varying the length
and severity of unpredictable behavior. A common
withdrawal effect experienced by long-time drug
users is anhedonia, or the inability to feel pleasure. 44
This lack of pleasure sensation causes a disagreeable
feeling that can last for weeks, leading many to take
up the drug habit again. The anhedonia symptoms of
methamphetamine abuse are particularly acute. Many
methamphetamine users in society try to alleviate the
effect of the methamphetamine “crash” by buffering the
effects with other drugs such as cocaine or heroin. 45
CHALLENGES FOR CONVENTIONAL
MILITARIES
The increasing number of civilians comprising
belligerent groups, when combined with the types
and availability of drugs, means that the presence of
intoxicated combatants is likely to be an abiding feature
of war in the near term. While drug use by individuals
17