"Use of marijuana-like drug rises among US military" December 31, 2011|By Julie Watson
SAN DIEGO - US troops are increasingly using an easy-to-get herbal mix called “Spice,’’ which mimics a marijuana high, is hard to detect, and can bring on hallucinations that last for days.
The abuse of the substance has so alarmed military officials that they’ve launched an aggressive testing program that this year has led to the investigation of more than 1,100 suspected users.
The so-called “synthetic’’ pot is readily available on the Internet and has become popular nationwide in recent years, but its use among troops and sailors has raised concerns among at the Pentagon.
“You can just imagine the work that we do in a military environment,’’ said Mark Ridley, deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, adding, “you need to be in your right mind when you do a job. That’s why the Navy has always taken a zero tolerance policy toward drugs.’’
Two years ago, only 29 Marines and sailors were investigated for Spice. This year, the number topped 700, the investigative service said. Those found guilty of using Spice are kicked out.
The Air Force has punished 497 airmen so far this year, compared with last year’s 380, according to figures provided by the Pentagon.
High fliers!
The Army does not track Spice investigations but says it has medically treated 119 soldiers for the drug in total.
Military officials emphasize those caught represent a tiny fraction of all service members and note none was in a leadership position or believed to be high while on duty.
Spice is made of plants from Asia such as Blue Lotus and Bay Bean. Their leaves are coated with chemicals that mimic the effects of the active ingredient in marijuana, but are five to 200 times more potent.
More than 40 states have banned some of its chemicals, prompting sellers to turn to the Internet, where it is marketed as incense or potpourri. In some states, Spice is sold at bars, smoke shops, and convenience stores.
The packets often say the ingredients are not for human consumption and are for aromatherapy. They are described as “mood enhancing’’ and “long lasting.’’ Some of the sellers’ Web sites say they do not sell herbal mixes containing any illegal chemicals and say they are offering a “legal high.’’
Service members preferred it because up until this year there was no way to detect it with urine tests. A test was developed after the Drug Enforcement Administration put a one-year emergency ban on five chemicals found in the drug.
Manufacturers are adapting to avoid detection, even on the new tests, and skirt new laws banning the main chemicals, officials said.
“It’s a moving target,’’ said Captain J.A. Surette, spokesman for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
The military can calibrate its equipment to test for those five banned chemicals, “but underground chemists can keep altering the properties and make up to more than 100 permutations,’’ Surette said.
Complicating efforts, there are more than 200 other chemicals used in the mix. They remain legal and their effects on the mind and body remain largely unknown, Navy doctors say.
Civilian deaths have been reported and emergency crews have responded to calls of “hyper-excited’’ people doing things like tearing off their clothes and running down the street naked.
Navy investigators compare the substance to angel dust because no two batches are the same. Some who smoke it like a marijuana cigarette may just feel a buzz, but others have suffered delusions lasting up to a week.
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My policy is just say no.
"Army stops using antimalaria drug; Psychiatric effects prompt change" November 25, 2011|By Thomas Watkins, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Almost four decades after inventing a potent antimalaria drug, the US Army has pushed it to the back of its medicine cabinet.
The dramatic about-face follows years of complaints and concerns that mefloquine caused psychiatric and physical side effects even as it was used around the globe as a front-line defense against the mosquito-borne disease that kills about 800,000 people a year.
But Gulf War Syndrome and all the rest, it's just in your head, soldier. Now here, take this cocktail of pills.
“Mefloquine is a zombie drug. It’s dangerous, and it should have been killed off years ago,’’ said Dr. Remington Nevin, an epidemiologist and Army major who has published research that he said showed the drug can be potentially toxic to the brain. He believes the drop in prescriptions is a tacit acknowledgement of the drug’s serious problems.
Related: Pentagon Prescription
America Asleep in the Streets
Also see: The Wars Will Make You Mad
For years now.
During the past three years, the Army slashed by almost 75 percent the amount of mefloquine it prescribes, even as it sent thousands more soldiers to malaria-prone Afghanistan.
The decrease in doses followed two orders from military and Pentagon leaders in 2009. One, from the Army’s surgeon general, ordered the branch to limit its use to specific circumstances. Other branches, however, continue to favor mefloquine.
“We are constantly looking to ensure we are taking care of [soldiers] the best we can,’’ said Army Colonel Carol Labadie, pharmacy program manager. “If that means changing from one drug to another because now this original drug has shown to be potentially harmful … it is in our interests to make that change.’’
Army researchers started developing mefloquine toward the end of the Vietnam War and began using it widely after it was licensed by Roche Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Lariam in the early 1990s.
It gained support among the fighting forces because it works in areas where mosquitoes developed resistance to an earlier treatment, chloroquine, and requires just one tablet a week, not the daily dose needed with other medications.
For years, the Army downplayed veterans’ criticism of the drug and insisted its protection against malaria easily outweighed the small risks.
It's always the same no matter what poison they are giving you.
Some users complained the pill caused varying degrees of psychiatric symptoms ranging from nightmares, depression, and paranoia to auditory hallucinations and complete mental breakdowns. Army literature says such symptoms occur at a rate of between one per 2,000-13,000 people. Critics, including Nevin, contend the number is far higher.
Family members have even blamed the drug on their loved ones’ suicides.
Retired Navy Captain Gary Foster said he cut his career short in part because of the effects of taking mefloquine in 2008 and 2009.
“I began to suffer short-term memory loss, not able to recall what I had done earlier,’’ he wrote in an e-mail. “I also had more bouts of anxiety, and I cannot for the life of me tell you why.’’
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About those suicides:
"Soldier suicides down, crimes on rise" Associated Press, January 20, 2012
WASHINGTON - The number of suicides among soldiers has been leveling off, but there has been a dramatic jump in domestic violence, sex crimes, and other destructive behavior in a force that has been stressed by a decade of war, a new Army report said yesterday.
“There’s a lot of good news in this report, but there’s also some bad news,’’ said the Army vice chief of staff, General Peter Chiarelli. “We know we’ve got still a lot of work to do.’’
Suicides among soldiers in the active duty, Guard, and Reserve totaled 278 last year, down 9 percent from 2010.
“After 10 years of war with an all-volunteer force, you’re going to have problems that no one could have forecasted,’’ he said.
That's so not true. Many people pointed to the aftereffects of war before the whole f***ing thing started.
Chiarelli was releasing a 200-page report meant to assess the physical and mental health condition of the force, disciplinary problems, and any gaps in how the Army deals with them.
It follows up on a 2010 report that said the Army was failing some soldiers by missing signs of trouble or by looking the other way as commanders tried to keep up with tight deployment schedules needed to fight in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Suicide numbers a down, right?
"Departing general favors ending ban on women in battle" by Greg Jaffe | Washington Post, February 05, 2012
WASHINGTON - Last year, a record 164 active-duty service members committed suicide, compared with about 159 the previous year. Although suicides among active duty troops remain high, General Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, says improved diagnosis and treatment of these hidden mental wounds has helped stem the increase in suicides the Army was experiencing before 2009.
He acknowledged that he leaves behind a medical system that is poorly structured to treat the mental wounds of war.
Your just another piece of equipment, soldier, and when you break down or are used up the military doesn't give a f*** about you because you are no longer useful in battle.
“Soldiers would tell me point blank that ‘the doctor talks to me for five minutes and throws a bag of pills at me,’ ’’ Chiarelli said....
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