Addiction has no boundaries. There are even thousands upon thousands of veterans fighting addiction. The drug and alcohol problem in this nation wears a new face, and that is the face of prescription drug abuse and addiction. One might be puzzled initially by this. Aren’t the pills supposed to be the ones that are good for us, and the illegal street drugs supposed to be the ones that are bad for us? That’s the way it is supposed to be, but it hasn’t turned out that way.
Ever since American pharmaceutical companies began to increase the production and the distribution and the proliferation of prescription drugs, mainly opiate prescription pain relievers, by over three-hundred percent into the hands of the American populace between the years of 2001 and 2005 the effects of these drugs have been devastating. More and more Americans have been getting addicted to these drugs and have been dying from these drugs with no responsibility being taken on behalf of the drug companies themselves.
Now, our soldiers and veterans are being affected, and they are being stricken too. Our armed forces, the men, and women we rely on to defend our country and keep us safe are rapidly becoming addicted to prescription pain reliever pills. This has been a real problem with currently enlisted soldiers, but it has been even worse with veterans fighting addiction.
The cycle is a vicious one to say the least. A soldier comes home from serving his country. He has a wound, whether from combat or not, and he needs help with it. Rather than looking to simpler methods or basic first aid only, American doctors without even thinking just prescribe the soldier painkillers, which he then gets addicted to rather rapidly because they are simply very addictive drugs. This is what has been happening, and it has been rampant and prolific.
Statistics on Veterans Fighting Addiction
There is some raw data on this, not only as it pertains to vets, but also just with how bad prescription opiate pain reliever addiction is in general. A lot of this comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
For example:
- No less than sixty percent of veterans from recent wars seeking treatment through the VA have chronic pain.
- A full fifty percent of all veterans seen by the VA live with chronic pain.
- Nationwide, 12 percent of VA patients receive prescriptions for pain medicine.
- Opiate prescription pain relievers are now this nation’s most concerning substance by far. However, ninety percent of all prescription drug overdose deaths occur with an opiate pain reliever. Much of this is because the common ingredient for opiate pain relievers is morphine, the same active ingredient, (or one of many really), that is in heroin.
- Drug-poisoning ED visit rates did not differ by sex and age, with the exception of persons aged 35–49, where females had a higher visit rate than males in fact, usually because of pills of one kind or another. The ED visit rate for unintentional drug poisoning was higher than self-inflicted drug poisoning overall for males but did not differ for females. These individuals are abusing drugs and alcohol and having to go to the hospital as a result.
- Almost one in four teens, (23 percent of them) say their parents do not care as much if they are caught using prescription drugs for non-medical purposes, compared to getting caught with “street drugs”. For some strange reason, there is a great deal of false data about the dangers that are behind prescription drug abuse. People don’t seem to think that they are as dangerous as they really are.
What to Do About It
The next step for veterans fighting addiction is rehabilitation. This is what is going to ultimately help those who are already addicted to these drugs. With the proper rehabilitation of an inpatient nature, anyone who is addicted, soldier or not, vet or not, civilian or not, can beat their addiction.
This problem does not have to be permanent or lasting. Prevention will assist to stop a lot of people from becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. Inpatient treatment centers can help and recover those who are currently addicted. With these two methods utilized in full force, this problem can finally become something of the past once and for all.
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