Drug Dependence in Veterans

Drugs and other forms of substance abuse constitute an extremely serious problem of the modern world with millions of people abusing various substances, which have an adverse impact on all domains of their life. People can start taking drugs for different reasons, including pain because of injuries and diseases, mental health problems, family issues, homelessness, job tension, and many other reasons. However, there are some groups of population that are at a higher risk of developing drug dependence than other groups and one of these groups includes veterans. Since in the recent past the USA has been engaged in two extensive and prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of military personnel who have participated in active military operations has significantly increased. This in turn means that even more veterans are currently at a high risk of becoming dependent on drugs and other substances, which has severe negative implications for their health, socioeconomic life, housing situation, employment prospects, and family relations. See a similar dialectic essay.

Statistics shows that since 2001 more than 2.2 million of men and women who served in the US military have been engaged in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, apart from being deployed to a number of other smaller-scale missions all over the world. Since the Vietnam War, this has been the largest number of US soldiers serving in zones of active military operations. Thanks to the advanced medical technologies, modern soldiers have higher chances of surviving serious war-related traumas like amputations and other injuries than ever before, which means that nowadays thousands of soldiers have to cope with the consequences of such injuries. Besides, a lot of veterans suffer from so-called “invisible traumas”, which include mental health issues like the PTSD, chronic pain, and traumatic brain injury. One third of all veterans diagnosed with the PTSD have also been diagnosed with drug dependence and other substance abuse conditions. As a result, thousands of veterans are prescribed pain relievers and many of them develop drug dependence, while others try to cope with stress and other issues through the consumption of illicit drugs with opioids being the most commonly used drugs among veterans. In line with rather moderate estimates, more than 11% of all veterans have been diagnosed with substance abuse, while the Veterans Administration reports that 19% of all veterans who receive care in its facilities have drug dependence. Substance abuse has also resulted in high overdose rates as according to the Veterans Administration, 22 veterans committed suicide by means of overdose every day in 2012. Drugs and alcohol were also responsible for more than 45% of non-fatal suicide attempts over the recent years. As veterans say, they refer to drugs to cope with aftereffects of participating in war affairs. For instance, Theresa from California has said the following: “They tell us not to do drugs, but how do I sleep? How do I forget what I saw?”.

Substance abuse among veterans also results in high rates of incarceration and in fact, these rates among veterans are higher than among the average population. Furthermore, veterans are a vulnerable group of population in terms of a higher risk of suffering from homelessness. The homeless veterans are highly likely to start abusing drugs and other substances and even though the cause-effect relation between homelessness and drug dependence has not been revealed, it is evident that the homeless are usually dependent on certain substances. Besides, veterans are even more likely to develop drug dependence as currently about 70% of all homeless veterans suffer from this condition. Drug dependence is also more prevalent among older homeless veterans than the younger ones.

However, drugs and other substances pose a serious problem not only to veterans, but also to active service officers. Thus, the current situation in relation to drug problems among both active military personnel and veterans can be described as a public health crisis potentially undermining the armed forces readiness and psychological fitness, as well as having a negative impact on the overall health state of the US population. Therefore, there have been developed and launched several substance abuse prevention programs for active service members, veterans, and their families. Some examples of such programs include the US Army Substance Abuse Program, the US Marine Corps Substance Abuse Program, the National Guard Counter Drug Program, and several others. Nonetheless, these programs seem to target active service members rather than veterans, which is why some specific measures targeting the latter group of the population should be taken. Human Rights Watch (2014) suggests three key evidence-based approaches designed specifically for veterans with drug dependence, including expansion of veterans’ access to naloxone as a means of saving life in case of an overdose, expansion of access to medication-assisted therapy primarily for veterans with opioid dependence, and focusing on “Housing First” model as a chance for veterans to rebuild their life. These three evidence-based programs targeting veterans with drug dependence problem can be really effective if they are implemented in a consistent and nationwide manner.

In fact, drug dependence is a serious and topical problem for veterans in the USA as they belong to the vulnerable group of the population in this respect. Veterans are more likely to resort to various drugs as a means of coping with stress, mental health issues, and physical problems like pain compared to average citizens, which is why it is necessary to develop and implement peculiar prevention and treatment programs targeting this particular group of population. Moreover, it is necessary to gather reliable statistics in order to understand the true scope of the problem. In any case, veterans with drug dependence should not be stigmatized and isolated since they were fighting for peace and security of their country and the world and need assistance in coping with the consequences of this fight.

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