This brings into question how bad the drugs actually are. Hermann Göring, lauded fighter ace, rose high up in the Nazi command. He was addicted to morphine. He

This brings into question how bad the drugs actually are. Hermann Göring, lauded fighter ace, rose high up in the Nazi command. He was addicted to morphine. He didn't perform well enough in the war, but apart from the whole being-a-Nazi thing, one would say he had a rather successful career. So it really kills the whole "injected opiates will ruin your life" line. Same for Paul Erdős and amphetamines. Though amphetamines might have more long-term damaging issues (psychosis or heart issues) whereas opiates are relatively benign. This should just re-enforce the truth that the real problem with many drugs is simply legality (which causes high prices which leads non-wealth users into a spiral). With an open market, anyone with a minimum wage job could afford to be on opiates. And in a military? Seems like a given. If you have soldiers that are feeling bad or otherwise having a crisis of confidence, opiates are a fairly good way to assuage that. To make them feel everything will turn out OK. Along with speed to give them lots of energy, and an environment conducive to actually doing stuff, it seems like a good military strategy (ignoring long-term effects on soldiers). The only real question is if they made large strategic mistakes due to the opiates and thinking things will be alright no matter what. Though this article indicates a late date for Hitler's use, and it was much earlier he decided to attack the Soviet Union, so...