U.S. Soldiers Suffering at Hands of Lawmakers, Big Pharma
We hear the reports on the news all the time about military service personnel who have survived bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan, but who have also lost limbs or have been seriously injured. They remind us of the great sacrifice they are making to protect our freedom. But the news media do not tell us about the stories of service personnel who were injured and have subsequently become addicted to prescription pain killers.
The wars of today are different than those fought previously. In both World Wars I and II, thousands of U.S. soldiers died on foreign soil fighting for the freedom that we hold so dearly. Today, soldiers are still dying, but due to advancements in medical technology, many are also surviving. Unfortunately for those survivors, many live in fear and pain even after returning home.
Thanks to lobbying efforts by the pharmaceutical industry and its various pain management groups, lawmakers were convinced that prescription drugs would cure these ailing soldiers. In 2008, two bills were passed that provided greater access to prescription pain killers and other drugs for active-duty soldiers and veterans. One of the bills was the Veterans Pain Care Policy Act, and the other was the Military Pain Care Policy Act of 2008, which required the Department of Defense to implement a program where comprehensive pain care would be provided for active and retired military service men and women.
In 2010, the U.S. Army Surgeon General expressed concern that soldiers were being overmedicated. This came just two years after the passage of the Military Pain Care Policy Act of 2008, in which a study revealed that the comprehensive pain care provided was in the form of highly addictive prescription pain killers.
A study conducted by the U.S. Army found that 14 percent of soldiers had been prescribed an opiate prescription drug to treat their pain, and 95 percent of those prescriptions were for OxyContin or its generic, Oxycodone. Other commonly prescribed drugs for soldiers include Seroquel, an antipsychotic drug, and Valium, an anti-anxiety drug. All of the aforementioned drugs are highly addictive and have disastrous side effects, including irritability, suicide, and reduced reaction times.
After the results of the study came out, Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker remarked, “we’re very concerned about the panoply of drugs that are being used and the number of drugs that are being used.” A Military Times report found that one out of every six service members is on some type of psychiatric drug. In a 2008 survey conducted by the Pentagon, 15 percent of soldiers said they had abused prescription drugs within the past month.
Lawmakers are now calling on the military to closely monitor the prescriptions that are given to soldiers, while others in the military want the focus to shift to alternative pain management practices like yoga, meditation, acupuncture, and movement therapy. Currently, the Department of Defense does not keep track of prescriptions given to service members.
Whatever the military and lawmakers decide, they must not let the pharmaceutical industry bully them into giving our already injured soldiers highly addictive and dangerous pain pills.
I would like to thank Marianne Skolek, a staff writer at Salem-News.com and an activist for victims of OxyContin and Purdue Pharma. She first wrote about the devastating effects these highly addictive painkillers are having on our troops and brought it to my attention. You can read her full article at http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june232011/drugged-soldiers-ms.php.
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