The term “flying high” takes on a whole new meaning for the Indian Air Force pilots who reportedly regularly consume uppers and downers with the government’s blessing. Confused?

In tough times, when the enemy rears its head, our Air Force pilots turn to a potent weapon: a little orange pill. The enemy is fatigue and insomnia, a nemesis which claims more lives than combat duty. So that’s where Dexedrine or Modafinil, or the ‘go pill’ (an ‘upper’), comes in to spike adrenaline levels, slay fatigue, enhance alertness and let the pilots stay awake in long, wartime sorties. This sudden rise rush of adrenaline in pilots is countered by the ‘no-go’ pill, (a ‘downer’) which has a calming, sedating effect.

Performance-enhancing drugs in military aviation are used extensively in the United States and the United Kingdom but we are only beginning to fully understand their effects and questioning the safety of these elixirs in the cockpit.