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The anti-malaria drug mefloquine is back in the news.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been asked to reopen the Somalia Commission of Inquiry and investigate the role of the drug in the death of Shidane Arone.

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As the 25th anniversary of the tragedy approaches, The Quinism Foundation and its executive director, Dr. Remington Nevin, have appealed to Trudeau to have the Canadian government reopen an inquiry that could clear the names of Canadian soldiers and the Canadian Airborne Regiment sent to Somalia at the end of 1992.

On March 16, 1993, civilian Shidane Arone was beaten to death and Master Corporal Clayton Matchee took part in the incident. The next day, Matchee was found hanging in his cell, still alive but permanently and irreparably brain-damaged, and unfit to stand trial. Thereafter, the Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded in disgrace.

Matchee and his fellow soldiers had been given mefloquine (also known as Lariam), an anti-malarial drug, prior to its licensing by Canadian health officials and outside an approved experimental use protocol.