Soldiers Numbing Themselves with Prescription Drugs
Posted on March 3, 2011Many people have trouble coping with stress. However, the tensions that our soldiers face on a daily basis may seem insurmountable. Some are torn from their families and are sent thousands of miles away to an unfamiliar culture. Inexperienced and young, they are taken from their creature comforts and are planted in countries with harsh terrain and unfriendly surroundings. Others return, struggling from physical injuries, or possibly worse – emotional distress. For these, numbing themselves may seem the only way out.
According to recent health survey results released by the Pentagon, about 25 percent of soldiers admit to abusing prescription drugs and pain killers. Frankly, because of their ease of access and the opening of the prescription drug market online, they have become a favorite of many Americans. The Associated Press reports that retail sales of five major pain killers increased by 90 percent from 1995 to 2007.
While alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamines continue to be a concern, the use of prescription meds is increasing at alarming rates. Pain killers such as Vicodin and OxyContin are among the most abused prescription medications cited by the Pentagon’s survey, which included data from 28,500 soldiers. And, the rate of abuse for these drugs is triple that of marijuana.
USA Today reports that pain killer prescriptions for injured soldiers have increased by 20,000 a month since the inception of the war in Iraq. Although, anyone can be at risk of addiction, soldiers are of particular concern because of their injuries and high stress levels. This data illustrates the toll that war, and particularly the war in Afghanistan, has had on our troops.
Medical personnel at the Warrior Transition Units, which treat injured soldiers until they are discharged by the Army, say that the wounded enter their facility with narcotics and other drugs given to them by battlefield doctors and military hospitals. Case workers and medical staff estimate that as many as 25 to 35 percent of soldiers receiving treatment are abusing prescription medications and have access to illegal drugs.
Prescription drug abuse by our troops is a very real and serious problem. This type of abuse doesn’t seem to get the attention it deserves, possibly because prescription medications don’t have the bad reputation that street drugs like meth or cocaine do. Not only are these drugs easily accessible through familiar circles, they are also being overly prescribed by doctors and clinics. While the Army understands that a problem exists, it acknowledges that its staff is simply too shorthanded to really do anything about it.
