Captagon The Smart Drug Fuelling Syrias Civil War …

Theres been a lot of news coming out of Syria and the Middle East about a new amphetamine that is coming to dominate the war economy. Since most of Syrias infrastructure and economy has been destroyed by civil war, the major moneymaker has become arms deals and drug sales, but specifically sales of a drug called Captagon.

Theres a lot of talk in the news about this scary new drug, but what concerns us is, what is Captagon really? What was it intended for? And why is a Nootropics blog covering Captagon?

Captagons other name is Fenethylline. Looking at the structure of the molecule, one can see that its a combination of d-amphetamine and theophylline. It doesnt appear to be active in its own right, but its a prodrug that the liver separates into both of these compounds. When Captagon is taken, it becomes in vivo d-amphetamine and theophylline, and these two new compounds are absorbed into the blood stream, and can now cross the blood brain barrier and become centrally active.

d-amphetamine: We have pretty extensively covered d-amphetamine in our Adderall section. d-amphetamine makes up 75% of Adderall by weight, so we understand the left half of the Captagon molecule. Once broken down and released into the blood stream, the d-amphetamine effects become apparent. This is very similar to Vyvanse, in which d-amphetamine is joined to L-lysine, which is an amino acid. Using the Vyvanse analogy, we can assume that the d-amphetamine release from taking captagon is rate-limited by the livers ability to convert the molecule into its constituent parts. This causes an effect similar to a built-in time-release mechanism. I was unable to find the effective half-life, but would expect it to be similar to Vyvanses.

Theophylline: Captagons other half is Theophylline. Theophylline is a chemical of the Xanthine class. The most recognizable Xanthine is Caffeine. The Xanthine family is made of up Caffeine, Theobromine, and Theophylline. Theophylline is found naturally in cocoa beans, black tea, green tea, and has a half-life of 5-8 hours. The effects of Theophylline are subjectively and objectively very close to Caffeine

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So what is Captagon? In the end, Captagon could be considered to be a time-release pill containing Theophylline and Amphetamine. The effects subjectively would be very similar to taking Adderall XR and drinking tea or coffee. The effects are going to be milder than the same dose of Adderall, because half of the molecule being a Xanthine. There are some interesting effects on blood pressure, as Theophylline is a vasodilator while Amphetamine is a vasoconstrictor.

What was Captagon originally intended for? Captagon was originally designed by Degussa AG, a German pharmaceutical company infamous for being the inventors of Zyklon B, used to gas people during the Holocaust. Captagon was invented in 1961 as an alternative to straight Amphetamine to treat ADHD, to work as an antidepressant, and to treat narcolepsy. It is of lower abuse potential than Amphetamine, and is actually quite comparable to Vyvanse in terms of effects. Essentially while not a nootropic, Captagon was designed to be a smart drug with a lower side effect and abuse potential than Adderall.

Why is Captagon currently the drug of choice for the Syrian Civil War? Captagon allows soldiers to fight longer hours without fatigue. It doesnt give the same level of rush or euphoria or mania that straight amphetamine would, but it allows soldiers to function for extended periods of time on little sleep and without significant decreases in alertness or performance. Eventually these soldiers are going to burn out, but it allows them to keep fighting, and potentially even to stay alive.

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Captagon The Smart Drug Fuelling Syrias Civil War ...