In June Marine Times reported 32 deaths on prescription drugs in Warrior Transition Units (WTUs) since 2007 and said an internal review "found the biggest risk factor may be putting a soldier on numerous drugs simultaneously, a practice known as polypharmacy."
But instead of citing dangerous drugs and drug cocktails for turning troops suicidal (and accident prone and at risk of death from unsafe combinations) the Army report cites troops' illicit use of them along with street drugs. (The word "illicit" appears 150 times in the Army report and "psychiatrist" appears twice.)
No, it's not the 8,000 urine samples in 2009 which showed prescription drug traces according to the Army report -- it's the fact that 21 percent of the drugs were "illicit."
No wonder the revised suicide report form suggested by the Army report doesn't even have a box to enter "adverse reactions to drug or drug combinations." Instead, it has a box that asks how long before a suicide a patient was "compliant" with the prescription. Was the medication "taken as prescribed? Skipped?" Taken "In excess of prescription? In different manner (e.g., crushed instead of in capsule)?"
Nowhere is there the possibility that the medication was taken as prescribed and compliance not noncompliance was the problem.
On the same day the Army report was released, another suicide report which ignores the elephant in the room called Big Pharma was released.
In response to a request from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice for help after the recent suicides of two youths in two of its eight WTU-like facilities, the Illinois Models for Change initiative compiled a "Report on the Behavioral Health Program for Youth Committed to Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice."
Like the Army report, the Juvenile Justice report notes lack of staff training and resources, lack of assessment tools, lack of aftercare, family problems and repeated moves and dislocations to explain suicides without mentioning suicide-causing psychoactive drugs themselves.
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