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-- "it will be difficult to hold the line at the 48 men at Guantanamo. (Obama's) proposal (would lay) the groundwork for US prisons to become places where people from around the world are brought and imprisoned without charge (or) trial, eroding our Constitution and adherence to international law beyond recognition."
In fact, that standard long ago was violated, making the rule of law in America a mere figure of speech. A new Seton Hall University School of Law's Center for Policy and Research (CP&R) affirms it, titled:
"Drug Abuse: An Exploration of the Government Use of Mefloquine at Guantanamo."
Under Professor Mark Denbeaux's direction, CP&R published 17 "GTMO Reports," including the latest, discussed below, "documenting the medically inappropriate use of a dangerous pharmacological treatment on" detainees.
An antimalarial drug, it's known to cause "severe neuropsychological adverse effects such as anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, aggression, psychotic behavior, mood changes, depression, memory impairment, convulsions, loss of coordination (ataxia), suicidal ideation (ideas or thoughts), and possibly suicide, particularly in patients with a history of mental illness."
Yet prison authorities administer it freely, at five times the normal dose. Even a fifth that much can cause any or all of the above side effects. Without medical need, pumping it into detainees in excessive amounts may cause irreparable harm. "At best it represents (gross malpractice and) monumental incompetence. At worst, it's torture."
Guantanamo has no malaria nor does Cuba. As a result, drug usage is solely to "specifically (induce) adverse side effects, either as part of enhanced interrogation techniques, experimentation in behavioral modification, or torture for some other purpose."
Doing so, however, violates Nuremberg protections that require voluntary consent with full disclosure of known risks and avoidance of experimental treatments if there's reason to believe harm may result. In addition, the Fifth Amendment protects against abusive government authority in stating "No person shall....be deprived of life, liberty or property, with due process of law...."
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