Prescription Drugs in the Military-Is it a problem? If so how do we fix it?

I feel that there are a couple lines of the issue at hand.

First and foremost: the military population is a reflection of the civilian population. What you see on the civilian side will be mirrored (to some degree) in the military because of one simple fact...where do you think military members come from?! Military has standards, but I think you will find issues across previous generations also.

Second: The military is now entering a scale back/slow down period. During this time, you have a couple of issues. People have been broken for a number of years and due to ops tempo have not had time to get fixed. Now is the time to fix, so more people are being seen and treated for long term health concerns that would have been quickly fixed at the onset of the problem, but with prolonged non-treatment, have become worse, requiring more time/meds to fix. Also, due to those same ops tempo, people are coming home with additional baggage (psyc/mental health). Identification of these issues is at an all time high and is being treated. Unfortinately, there are some that will mis-use meds, either by accident or intentional.

There is NO easy fix or easily identified single point of issue. This is a team sport...if you have a buddy/teammate that is having problems, step up to help or find help.

A greater emphasis on counseling and the realization that medications have their limitations would be two good places to start. Most people(patients and providers alike) believe that most medical and psychiatric problems can be effectively treated with medications. As a group I would argue this is not true. Additionally, the general population has the misperception that they shouldn't experience any pain or that the pain they experience requires a medication instead of learning methods to cope with pain effectively. The trouble is that misperception of pain is a common problem among those with psychiatric disorders and, unless the psych disorder is effectively controlled the misperception of pain will be unchanged.

Is it a problem? There are certainly soldiers who abuse or who have problems with prescription medications.

I witnessed first-hand the adverse reaction/interaction of prescription medications taken by a young soldier while on an R&R flight. He attempted to open the cabin bay door in-flight. He was taking anti-anxiety and anti-depression meds, painkillers, and sleeping aids all at the same time. I think he messed up the dosage or the timing of the dosages. In any case, the meds were all in ziplock bags, hand labelled. This was consistent with the administration of meds I was issued by my team medic.

How do we fix it? I think some automated system to alert prescribing physicians of adverse interactions is necessary. This is very difficult to implement in a deployed environment where multiple sources of prescriptions are available.

During reintegrations following deployments, I have been asked "Do you need anything for that?"
by physicians and counselors alike. I think that while the intentions are good and honorable, the consequence of needless medication are more enduring as a long term treatment for addiction than the short term benefits in many cases. I'm not sure there is a way to assess in advance those soldiers likely to abuse prescription medications. Certainly adverse interactions between drugs should be more closely controlled. Great question!