Packaging & Availability Lethal Dose Administration Potentiating & other supplementary drugs President Trump & the Chloroquine Controversies
Introduction
Long before President Trump touted that chloroquine would be the ‘game changer’ in the fight against COVID-19, this useful end of life drug was making something of a comeback.
First highlighted by the French suicide manual Suicide Mode d’Emploi in 1982, the ready availability of this anti-malarial (available either online or over-the-counter in some countries) has contributed to its use as a means of providing a reliable death. Cambodian despot, Pol Pot, is believed to have used chloroquine (in conjunction with Valium) on the night of the announcement by the Khmer Rouge that they planned to hand him over to interna- tional authorities for trial.
First synthesised in the 1930s as a substitute for naturally pro- duced quinine, the drug was found to be effective against malaria and some auto-immune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. However, concerns over the drug’s narrow therapeutic range (blood levels for effective treatment of malaria are in the