The Independent reported, citing a former senior army officer and malaria expert, Lt. Col. Ashley Croft, who was speaking at the evidence session, as saying that Lariam had 27 neuro-psychiatric side effects.
Croft began studying the effects of the drug on soldiers deployed to Kenya around 20 years ago. He told the committee that a third of army personnel who had taken the drug had reported severe side effects, including hallucinations and suicidal thoughts, according to the newspaper.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that 994 army personnel had required psychiatric treatment since 2008 after taking the drug. In Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States Lariam is either prohibited or used as a last resort treatment.
