An aggravating circumstance is any factor surrounding a criminal act that increases the severity of the harm or the culpability of the offender. When present, an aggravating circumstance elevates the charge to a higher classification. The result is a harsher penalty at sentencing. The International Criminal Court should consider designating evidence of drugged action (combatants in war fighting while intoxicated) as an aggravating circumstance applicable to all existing war crimes.

Before invading France in 1940, the German army ordered 35 million tablets of Pervitin, a methamphetamine-based stimulant first patented in 1937 by the Berlin-based pharmaceutical company Temmler. Originally launched in 1938, it was marketed as an inexpensive alternative to coffee and became widely used by homemakers, factory workers, and students to increase concentration and suppress appetite. When Germany rolled over France with the deadly and astonishing tactic of Blitzkrieg, it was the widespread use of Pervitin by German troops that allowed tank crews and infantry to fight for days without fear or fatigue.

The danger of methamphetamines like Pervitin was quickly recognized but long denied. Veterans experienced debilitating withdrawal, including psychosis. Intoxication is the consequence of the consumption of a variety of agents that lead to a host of medical and physical impairments. Individuals with acute methamphetamine intoxication may, without provocation, abruptly develop severe agitation and manifest extreme violence, placing themselves and others at risk of significant injury, including death.

Enhancing soldiers for future warfare raises troubling ethical concerns. Enhancement of human physical performance is not prima facie morally unacceptable but is morally precarious. Offering soldiers mind-altering drugs with the intent of improving endurance, bravery, and strength might lead to a style of fighting that would be contrary to the laws of war. In so-called “God mode,” the absence of consequences for actions and the detachment from the human experience of struggle can result in a depravity of violence.

The brutality enacted by Hamas on the Israeli inhabitants of southern Israel is now well known. Unrestrained violence is the sine qua non of modern terrorism. Still, the answer to how Hamas so effortlessly raped and slaughtered on October 7 might be explained—in part—by what was found in their pockets. Making the subordinate fight with ferocity is every commander’s desire, and beyond a hate-filled psychological indoctrination, Hamas’s leadership found something else.

As Assad’s Syrian regime disintegrated, the extent of his brutal methodology began to be revealed. A video posted online shows a warehouse in Syria stacked with Captagon, the same drug reportedly found on the bodies of Hamas fighters, according to Israeli media. This drug was first developed in 1961 with the chemical name fenethylline by the German pharmaceutical company Degussa AG. Fenethylline (Captagon) is a synthetic amphetamine-type drug initially intended to treat attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy, and depression. Like Pervitin, Captagon induces intense euphoria and creates a sense of invincibility and heightened aggression. Repeated use leads to extreme irritability and paranoia.

If drugged combat is a recurring feature of atrocity, the question is whether the law of war can answer it.

International humanitarian law (IHL) was established to set rules that limit the effects of armed conflict. IHL protects people who are no longer in the fight or never were. It restricts the means and methods of warfare and falls under the laws of war and armed conflict. Warfare has always been subject to various customs and norms, but the introduction of written codes was meant to strengthen these norms. To this end, Francis Lieber’s 1863 code for the Union Army became a foundation for the modern laws of armed conflict. After witnessing the staggering death toll in a single day at the Battle of Solferino in 1859, Jean Henri Dunant raised awareness about the need for humanitarian principles in war. Rules have been added and modified in response to subsequent armed conflicts. These rules strive to balance humanitarian and military interests.

The humanitarian prong of IHL is codified in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, which protect the wounded, detainees, and civilians from murder, torture, rape, and deportation. Subsequent treaties have banned chemical and biological weapons, anti-personnel mines, and the use of child soldiers — proof that the framework expands when new horrors demand it.

Adding a new protocol to the Geneva Conventions to address the problem of drugged soldiers requires a diplomatic process brought forth by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is the task of the ICRC to consult with experts on the consequences of combatants in the throes of methamphetamine intoxication. The resulting diplomatic conference would be convened to negotiate, adopt, amend, and ratify the new treaty. Once adopted, States can formally agree to be bound by it through ratification or accession. A new protocol is the long road; in the meantime, the ICC can act through sentencing.

The International Criminal Court prosecutes individuals for grave breaches of these rules under the Rome Statute. A war crime is distinguished from an ordinary domestic crime by the existence of a nexus between the fighters’ specific conduct and the armed conflict. Without the armed conflict, the individual would have no opportunity to violate the customs and laws of war — the foundation for all war crimes. When Hamas crossed from Gaza into southern Israel, it was part of an armed conflict subject to the laws of war. But it also created the opportunity to rape. On its own, rape is a war crime and never within the rules of engagement.

Methamphetamine intoxication enhances depravity, not morality. Combat under the influence of amphetamine-type stimulants like Captagon should be recognized as an aggravating circumstance in the prosecution of any war crime. The presence of meth on the battlefield strips away any semblance of honor in armed conflict, leaving only wickedness and degeneracy in its wake.