PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ritchie, Elspeth Cameron
AU  - Block, Jerald
AU  - Nevin, Remington Lee
TI  - Psychiatric Side Effects of Mefloquine: Applications to Forensic Psychiatry
DP  - 2013 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 224--235
VI  - 41
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/41/2/224.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/41/2/224.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2013 Jun 01; 41
AB  - Mefloquine (previously marketed in the United States as Lariam®) is an antimalarial medication with potent psychotropic potential. Severe psychiatric side effects due to mefloquine intoxication are well documented, including anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, persecutory delusions, dissociative psychosis, and anterograde amnesia. Exposure to the drug has been associated with acts of violence and suicide. In this article, we discuss the history of mefloquine use and describe plausible mechanisms of its psychotropic action. Mefloquine intoxication has not yet been successfully advanced in legal proceedings as a defense or as a mitigating factor, but it appears likely that it eventually will be. Considerations for the application of claims of mefloquine intoxication in forensic settings are discussed.