Some OEF/OIF Troops Returning Addicted to Military-Given Meds

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Families are alarmed by military statistics showing that 80% of soldiers who have been flagged with 'mild' symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been sent back to Iraq and Afghanistan, many with anti-depressant pills aimed at ensuring they can still fight. ...

Maj. Gen. Paul Mock, commander of the 63rd Regional Readiness Command for the Army Reserves, told an Army convention last month that he doesn't think the infrastructure is in place to treat all returning troops who need mental health care, especially in rural areas. "When they don't get the kind of mental health screening - or physical - history tells us they will turn to coping mechanisms," said Steve Robinson, director of government relations for Veterans for America, a 35,000-member organization. He says many of the hundreds of soldiers he has interviewed are addicted to medications given to them in the field, such as painkillers and sleeping pills. But the soldiers are not getting the therapy that normally goes with such medications, Robinson said.

Adam Reuter, a 23-year-old former Army specialist from Atlanta who was stationed near the Syrian border, said a medic simply handed him a plastic bag filled with pills with no instructions after he was tossed out of a Humvee in an accident. The bag contained Percocet, Vicodin, Tylenol with codeine, a muscle relaxant, Motrin and Naproxen. He said he went back for more and developed a dependency that he is still trying to shake. More >>

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