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Using mefloquine and other dangerous drugs indiscriminately is willful, criminal torture. US War Crimes Act provisions make the UN Torture Convention, Geneva, and Common Article 3 breaches illegal, including torture, abuse, and humiliating or degrading treatment.
Moreover, US Code, Chapter 113C: Torture states:
"Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life."
Torture, genocide, slavery, and wars of aggression have a common thread. They're all jus cogens, meaning subject to a higher or compelling law. As a result, no country can pass laws permitting these practices in any form for any purpose with no allowed exceptions. For decades, however, America has used them freely, so far with impunity.
Regarding mefloquine's use, Dr. G. Richard Olds, an internationally respected tropical disease expert and Founding Dean of the University of California at Riverside School of Medicine explained that:
It's "fat soluble and as a result it does build up in the body and has a very long half-life. This is important since a massive dose (isn't) easily corrected and the 'side effects'....could last for weeks or months....In my professional opinion, there is no medical justification for giving (high doses) to an asymptomatic individual. I also do not see the medical benefit of treating a person in Cuba" with a clearly unneeded drug.
According to Professor Stephen Soldz, Director of the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Program Development, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis and President of Psychologists for Social Responsibility:
"For years there has been an almost complete lack of transparency regarding medical practices and procedures at Guantanamo (and all other US torture prisons). The military has failed to provide credible explanations for its procedures. Detainees and their attorneys have been denied access to their own medical records, an egregious ethical violation. All health providers should join the call for Guantanamo to respect fundamental rules regulating medical ethics everywhere."
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