via The Town Scryer
"The pharmacy consultant for the Army surgeon general says the military's use of the drugs is comparable to that in the civilian world. "It's not that we're using them more frequently or any differently," said Col. Carol Labadie. "As with any medication, you have to look at weighing the risk versus the benefits of somebody going on a medication."The first problem that comes to mind with the Colonel's justification is the army is comprised of young healthy men. This is not a demographic that should be compared to the civilian population at large. Young healthy people don't need the medications for stress or anything else that their older counterparts might.
The second thing is this. During Viet Nam illegal drug abuse was rampant. Heroin was extremely cheap and extremely available. Many used it to cope with the stress. The same must be true in Afghanistan today where a single dose of the drug costs 20 cents. Although we don't hear about it, I would imagine in addition to the awful prescription drug abuse, there's a good bit of illegal substance abuse as well.
What's your opinion? Is the military keeping these things under wraps? Are they not only using our young men as cannon fodder but drugging them along the way? Would this account for some of the terrible reports of high suicide rates?
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
