Sunday, December 02, 2007

I can't WAIT to see how this works out.


This can't end well:

[U.S.] Military Overmedicating Troops, Counselors Charge
Counselors and Therapists Charge the Military Tries to Medicate Its Veterans' Pain Away

Instead of providing proper counseling and care for Iraq war veterans suffering from physical and psychological pain, too often the U.S. military is trying to medicate the problem away, according to drug counselors and therapists.

Andrew Pogany, who works with service members nationwide as an investigator with the veterans advocacy group Veterans for America, said overmedicating veterans is a common problem.

"Pretty much every person in my caseload is medicated, heavily medicated," said Pogany. "There's potential for them to become addicted."

According to Pogany, a reliance on prescription drugs often leads veterans to reach for other coping mechanisms -- illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth.

Oh, this should be entertaining ... let's sit back and see what happens when right-wing, patriotic, flag-waving, ribbon-adorned troop supporters meet right-wing, law-and-order, "lock 'em up and throw away the key" anti-drug crusaders. The cognitive dissonance should be quite a sight.

1 comment:

The Seer said...

1. The last time I failed to meet this blog's standards for making sense, you — and I mean you, CC — told me to start taking my medications again.

2. If RA started taking his medications again, maybe he would quiet down.

3. If they don't medicate these guys, before you know it we'll have another Walter Reed scandal.

4. We Vietnam veterans assumed the responsibility for medicating ourselves. And we sought out our medications on the informal economy, so the taxpayer never got stuck with the bill (except when they sent us to jail.)

5. On the other hand again, Robert S. McNamara — Vietnam era Secretary of Defense — never tried to tell us that getting up every morning and walking into an ambush was smart tactics for winning hearts & minds. So maybe these guys have a higher need for medication than we did.