Drug Addicted Vietnam Vet’s Problems Minor to Afghan/Iraq Vet’s Problems

The scores of vets returning from Vietnam with drug addiction problems found adjusting to life back in the US trying and painful. During this time, heroin addiction was looked down upon, a “moral problem” that obviously reflected the decayed moral values of the teens sent over to “terrorize, desecrate and pillage,” as many in the media portrayed them.

Needles to say, this stigma followed many until their deaths, while still addicted to heroin or heroin substitutes and unable to make right with society.

“While drug addiction today is viewed as a condition that can be successfully treated,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab of Georgia, “the problems are compounded when veterans become drug addicts to drugs given to them by their own doctors. This is the case with many vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost a year ago, Narconon Drug Rehab warned of drug abuse and drug addiction rates among this population that rivaled the Vietnam drug addiction rates.”

The Denver Post ran an article in August, 2008 that details the percentage of vets using drugs in the Iraqi war.

According to the article, more than 12 percent of the fighting force have taken antidepressants or prescription sleeping pills in the war zones. "Sadly enough, this is roughly the same percentage as the returning vets from Vietnam hooked on heroin." comments Ms. Rieser.

The article goes on to describe the following statistics:

Supply center spending for eight prescription pain medications grew 62 percent in the first three years of the Iraq war.

Spending for the pain reliever Tramadol and narcotic painkillers oxycodone and Percocet tripled in those years. "As we know, oxycodone and percocet abuse leads to Oxycodone and Percocet Addiction."

Spending for Topamax, an epilepsy medicine now being used to treat soldiers with traumatic brain injuries that could lead to seizures, nearly quadrupled in four years, from $5.6 million to $20 million. However,earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration warned that topiramate (generic Topamax), increased the likelihood of suicidal thoughts and behavior.  "Having been in a combat situation can be very stressful, but to take a drug that can increase the likelihood of suicidal thoughts is a bit scary," Ms. Rieser states.

Other experts also question the wisdom of prescribing Topamax widely to soldiers.

David Egilman, a clinical associate professor at Brown University who has served as an expert consultant to plaintiffs in drug litigation, said "All of these drugs increase suicide risk, which is why it's probably not good to give it to guys who carry guns."

Recently, according to experts at the recent Wounds of War conference sponsored by the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University (Join Together is a project of CASA), the U.S. could face a wave of addiction and mental-health problems among returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars greater than that resulting from the Vietnam War.

Rather than the heroin addictions many Vietnam veterans brought back with them from Southeast Asia, however, today's returning soldiers are more likely to be addicted to prescription medications -- the very opiates prescribed to them by the military to ease stress or pain -- or stimulants used by soldiers to remain alert in combat situations.

"I think there's a lot more [soldiers addicted to] pharmacological opiates than the data show," said John A. Renner Jr., M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine and associate chief of psychiatry at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System. "A lot of them were using opiates before they went, and a lot are reporting that opiates are freely available in combat areas."

Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), noted that while many soldiers receive prescription opiates for traumatic injuries and pain, the drugs also are effective in relieving stress. "So, even if you don't take it for that, it will work," she said.

Prescription drug abuse was a top concern among conference participants and unsurprisingly, the strains on the system have led military commanders to "get men back in the fight" rather than confronting addiction and mental-health problems in the ranks, said McDonough. "Between 2004 and 2006, the incidence of substance abuse went up 100 percent, while treatment referrals by commanders went up zero percent," he said.

Renner predicted that the rate of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) "will be much higher than in Vietnam."

"We knew in Vietnam that the limit was one year [in combat] if you wanted to avoid PTSD," he said. "Now, with tours of 18 to 24 months, we should expect a higher level of problems."

Gen. Sutton noted that the military has ended the "stop-loss" policy of involuntarily retaining personnel in the service beyond the end of their enlistment. "In terms of tour length, tour repetition, and dwell time in between we are moving in the right direction, but we know that 12-15 months in combat takes its toll," she said.

Many soldiers return to their families with an array of problems that make it very difficult for them to pick up their old lives and reintegrate with civilian society. Addiction and exposure to traumatic incidents literally cause changes in the brain, experts note, so it's not surprising that family members often say that their loved ones are different people when they return from combat.

"Why would we prescribe medication to combat soldiers when these same medications are not allowed to airline pilots?" asks Ms. Rieser. "Unfortunately, these same vets, once home, will be addicted to drugs, maybe not heroin as in the Vietnam War, but to prescription drugs with dangerous side effects. Neither they nor their family members will have the knowledge to deal with the addiction once they return home. The young vets only take what their doctors tell them to take. Once addicted, who do they turn to?"

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