Chemical Warfare: The US Military's Pill Addiction
Published on Thursday, April 12, 2012 by Common Dreams - by Robert C. Koehler
To fight our insane wars, were wrecking our soldiers ability to live with themselves and function in society, then regulating whats left of them with chemicals, which often make things immeasurably worse.
In the pursuit of order, could we possibly be creating more chaos, not simply externally in the shattered countries were leaving in our wake but internally, in the minds of those soldiers?
The Los Angeles Times noted that Air Force pilot Patrick Burke was recently acquitted in a court-marital hearing on charges of auto theft, drunk driving and two counts of assault due to polysubstance-induced delirium. This was, the Times explained, a turning point: the first official acknowledgement, by military psychiatrists and a court-martial judge, that the drugs that have become a routine part of military service in Burkes case, the prescribed amphetamine Dexedrine (go pills) can contribute to temporary insanity.
Better living through chemistry!
The chemical fix pervades the whole culture, of course, and while drugs can produce astounding results, they are demonically seductive and always have a down side. And nowhere, it seems, is their misuse more dramatic than in the modern military.
After two long-running wars with escalating levels of combat stress, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year were taking prescribed antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs, according to figures recently disclosed to The Times by the U.S. Army surgeon general, Kim Murphy writes in the Times article. Nearly 8 percent of the active-duty Army is now on sedatives and more than 6 percent is on antidepressants an eightfold increase since 2005.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/12-4
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)Aristus
(66,394 posts)away from all being Melnibonean nobles. Living life cradle to grave under the influence of soul-robbing drugs...
got root
(425 posts)the last sentence really rings true for me, too.
thanks for sharing
PharmTech212
(1 post)cbayer
(146,218 posts)medications in treating PTSD and other disorders that active duty soldier may develop can be extremely effective and save lives.
The marked increase in use is more likely related to the marked increase in war related disorders than simple overuse.