UK Lariam - Mefloquine Veterans' Support

03/09/2026

Quick fact-check, because this one keeps being repeated.🤦🏼‍♂️

Ministers have told Parliament that the MOD and NHS “follow NICE guidelines on the prescription and management of side effects associated with mefloquine.”

On 5 June 2026 we asked NICE directly.
NICE replied:
• they have not published any NICE guidance on this topic
• the malaria-prophylaxis page on their site is a CKS summary, compiled by an external company
• CKS is not formal NICE guidance
• they host the BNF monograph but are not responsible for BNF content
• for medicine safety they pointed us to the MHRA

So there is no NICE guideline on diagnosing or managing Mefloquine Toxicity in veterans. There is traveller prescribing advice. That is not a clinical pathway for people already harmed.

When you hear “we follow NICE,” ask which guideline number. There isn’t one.

Keep your records. The condition is real. The citations need to be too.

03/09/2026

After years of Sanctuary Trauma, we finally have some positive news

On 2 September 2026, Tan Dhesi MP, Chair of the Defence Select Committee, asked the Health Secretary what is being done to improve GPs’ understanding of ‘Mefloquine Toxicity’ (MT) in Armed Forces veterans.

That wording matters. ‘MEFLOQUINE TOXICITY’ is now on the official parliamentary record. Not “possible side effects.” Not “psychiatric symptoms that resemble PTSD.” The injury has been named.

The ministerial reply confirms:
• NHS England has agreed to include screening for prior mefloquine use in Op COURAGE and Op RESTORE assessments
• Information on mefloquine and its adverse effects is being developed for GPs and the wider NHS
• It is due to be published on the RCGP and Armed Forces training sites

For years veterans were dismissed with ‘mental health’ or gaslighted as ‘fixated’ for using the term MT. It is now in Hansard.

This is not the finish line🏁

Screening without a proper pathway still leaves people in the same psychiatric loop to nowhere♻️ and there is still no dedicated clinical route for MT / toxic brain injury……yet!

“NICE guidance” is being cited for management, yet NICE has not issued any guideline on long-term mefloquine toxicity in veterans or civilians ever! Traveller prescribing advice is not a care pathway for those already harmed.

So: hope with receipts💪🏻. The condition has been named. Keep your records. If you present to Op COURAGE or Op RESTORE, ask them to record prior Lariam/mefloquine use and any symptomatic exposure. If they hand you a leaflet that does not mention the drug, say so.

18/08/2026

Join us for a timely cross-Atlantic conversation on the antimalarial mefloquine (Lariam).
It will be interesting to see British MPs and former MPs engage on this issue,
how fully they are briefed after the trail left by the UK’s Defence Committee Lariam Inquiry remains an open question.

🎙️ Live: Episode 90 of The Late Night Veterans Show

9:00 pm BST (British Summer Time) on Friday, 21 August 2026.

Co-founder Darren Edmundson 🇬🇧, Host/CEO Reginald Argue 🇨🇦, and UK host Adam Scarborough 🇬🇧 welcome:

• Andrew Bridgen 🇬🇧 — former MP for North West Leicestershire (2010–2024)

• Piers Corbyn 🇬🇧 — former Labour councillor (Southwark) and veteran supporter

• Tim Riley 🇨🇦 — Canadian Army veteran and mefloquine advocate; prescribed the drug for Operation Deliverance with the Canadian Airborne Regiment Battle Group in Somalia (December 1992), when mefloquine was not yet licensed in Canada
Where veterans speak freely, the discussion is real, and every voice counts.

Tune in live or catch the recording afterwards.
Platforms: https://linktr.ee/TheLateNight.VeteranShow

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We have been credited and approved by the Armed forces covenant. We provide a platform for veterans to share their story's.

14/06/2026

Today we salute Ed Mackenzie and the Elysium Memorial Foundation for their extraordinary work in creating The Weary Hero, the UK’s first memorial dedicated solely to veterans lost to su***de.

Their journey from Leyburn to the National Memorial Arboretum isn’t just symbolic, it’s a national reckoning.

The BBC cites 277 veteran su***des from 2006–2025, yet our validated data within the veteran community shows more than that since 2017 alone.

The question we must now ask, and demand answers to, is this:
How many of these tragedies involved veterans who were prescribed Lariam (Mefloquine)?

Were they ever screened, monitored, or even asked?

This memorial stands not only for remembrance but for recognition, reform, and accountability.
Every name represents a life that mattered, and a system that must do better. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2kyy02w11o

13/06/2026

This week we attended the UK National Veteran Brain Health Symposium 🧠🪖 at Nottingham University.

Right from the opening session on causes of brain injury, 20years of Lariam (mefloquine) use was explicitly named under the “Chemical” category.

Even though the day focused heavily on blast and traumatic brain injury (TBI), the stories shared by veterans with lived experience, their families, and even clinicians were identical to what so many of us have gone through with Lariam: the cognitive issues, the mental health impact, the life-changing failures in support, and the long-term hidden damage.

The same struggles. The same systemic gaps in understanding. The same fight for recognition.

Events like this are vital, they’re starting to connect the dots between different causes of brain injury in veterans. But we still have a long way to go before the damage caused by Lariam, and other brain injuries, are properly acknowledged and supported.

02/05/2026

This week we became aware that Veterans UK now has a dedicated phone option (Option 7) for Mefloquine-affected veterans.

On the surface, that sounds like progress.

So we called it.

The reality?

The advisor had to pause the call to read up on Mefloquine, then ultimately could offer no specific support at all, only to signpost back to an NHS GP, or charities such as Combat Stress, or general pathways like Op Courage and Op Restore.

In other words:
🤕A system that now recognises the harm
🚮But still provides no pathway to care

Many affected veterans already know the reality of Sanctuary Trauma:
• NHS GPs are not equipped or informed on Mefloquine injury
• Referrals lead to dead ends, misdiagnosis & mistreatment
• Veteran services continue to cycle people back to the NHS, when they have no pathway for you🤔

This creates a closed loop to nowhere, which is costing lives:
Veterans UK → NHS GP → Veteran Services → Local NHS Services → back to NHS GP ♻️

That is not support. That is deflection.

If there is now formal recognition, then there must also be formal responsibility.

We encourage all those affected to:
📞 Call the Veterans UK Mefloquine option
📢 Share your experience
📝 Ensure your case is recorded

Because once it’s on record, it cannot be ignored.

They cannot continue to say “see your NHS GP” when no NHS system has been put in place to support Mefloquine-affected veterans.

Recognition must lead to action.

02/05/2026

This week we became aware that Veterans UK now has a dedicated phone option (Option 7) for Mefloquine-affected veterans.

On the surface, that sounds like progress.

So we called it.

The reality?

The advisor had to pause the call to read up on Mefloquine, then ultimately could offer no specific support at all, only to signpost back to an NHS GP, or charities such as Combat Stress, or general pathways like Op Courage and Op Restore.

In other words:
🤕A system that now recognises the harm
🚮But still provides no pathway to care

Many affected veterans already know the reality of Sanctuary Trauma:
• NHS GPs are not equipped or informed on Mefloquine injury
• Referrals lead to dead ends, misdiagnosis & mistreatment
• Veteran services continue to cycle people back to the NHS, when they have no pathway for you🤔

This creates a closed loop to nowhere, which is costing lives:
Veterans UK → NHS GP → Veteran Services → Local NHS Services → back to NHS GP ♻️

That is not support. That is deflection.

If there is now formal recognition, then there must also be formal responsibility.

We encourage all those affected to:
📞 Call the Veterans UK Mefloquine option
📢 Share your experience
📝 Ensure your case is recorded

Because once it’s on record, it cannot be ignored.

They cannot continue to say “see your NHS GP” when no NHS system has been put in place to support Mefloquine-affected veterans.

Recognition must lead to action.

16/04/2026

🔗

The UK Ministry of Defence is accused of failing to recognise and properly document the long-term neuropsychiatric harm caused by the anti-malarial drug Lariam, leaving thousands of veterans misdiagnosed, unsupported, and unable to access treatment or compensation.

29/03/2026

CC1: Are you a British Army Veteran that was prescribed Mefloquine (Lariam) on deployment between Aug 2006–Aug 2009, and something hasn’t felt right since, you’re not alone.
Feel free to reach out privately, completely confidential👌🏻🪖🌴🦟

03/02/2026

📽️https://youtu.be/t4y9A3TYFes 🦟🪖
Bite prevention has always been at the forefront of malaria prevention, yet the unpopular story of Atabrine, repeated itself through history with other synthetic malaria drugs 🤔

An animated cartoon. Snafu disregards antimosquito measures and is stung by malaria Mike. After contracting malaria Snafu regrets his carelessness.Department...