Per The Guardian, the popular drug Pervitin was available without a prescription when it first came on the market. It was often used as a way to give more confidence to someone and to boost performance, even if that was just to get through the workday. Soldiers on the front line were often sleep-deprived and terrified, which is where the confidence and performance-boosting aspects of Pervitin really became appealing. However, as Ohler points out in the “Fresh Air” interview, this was no harmless magic drug. What Pervitin actually was is what is now known officially as methamphetamine and colloquially as crystal meth, though this is not what Adolf Hitler was given.
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What was prescribed to Hitler by his doctor Theo Morell was opiates, and Hitler quietly became addicted over the years. Per Ohler, things came to a head in April 1945 when Hitler fired Morell, stating, “You have been giving me opiates the whole time! Get out of the bunker and leave me alone.” Quite a few people witnessed this outburst, but it’s unknown whether Hitler was trying to save face or whether he truly didn’t know that Morell had been supplying him with opiates for years.
