Captagon, once a pharma drug, now linked to Assad regime’s fall in Syria

Bashar al-Assad’s brutality was already a significant enough factor contributing to the downfall of his regime in Syria at the hands of rebel groups. Now, vast quantities of the illicit drug ‘captagon’ are also reportedly linked to his downfall.

Syrian rebels, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), seized large stockpiles of captagon at military bases and distribution centres, revealing the darker aspects of Assad’s rule.

Earlier, AFP reported that captagon pills were found hidden inside electrical components destined for export at a quarry on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

The factory, a HTS fighter said, is for Maher al-Assad, a military commander and the brother of the ousted Syrian president.

Once a pharma drug

The catch here is, captagon was once a pharmaceutical drug, similar to those legally valid stimulants like dexamphetamine, which are still used by people with conditions like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a report from The Conversation said.

Captagon is the actual brand name of an old synthetic pharmaceutical stimulant, originally produced in the 1960s in Germany. The drug was used as an alternative for amphetamine and methamphetamine, both used as medicines at the time.

With fenethylline, an active ingredient, as part of the drug, Captagon was initially prescribed for conditions like ADHD and sleeping disorder narcolepsy.