Statistical Horrors: Sleepless Through the Battle
A Jun 5th 2008 Time Magazine article by Mark Thomson reveals devastating statistics,
titled "America's Medicated Army".
"Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according
to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17 of those in Afghanistan are taking
prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope.
"At a Pentagon that keeps statistics on just about everything, there
is no central clearinghouse for this kind of data, and the Army hasn't consistently asked about prescription-drug use, which makes
it difficult to track..........about 20,00 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq were on such medications last fall. The Army estimates that
authorized drug use splits roughly fifty-fifty between troops taking antidepressants - largely the class of drugs that includes Prozac
and Zoloft - and those taking prescription sleeping pills like Ambien.
"Generals, history shows, have plied their troops with medicinal
palliatives at least since George Washington ordered rum rations at Valley Forge. During World War II, the Nazis fueled their blitzkrieg
into France and Poland with the help of an amphetamine known as Pervitin."
The article goes on to say, "In 2004, the last year for
which complete data for the U.S. are available, doctors wrote 147 million prescriptions for antidepressants, according to IMS Health,
a pharmaceutical market research firm." Click text for entire article:
The BIG Question
Without minimizing the cause and
situations which compel the use of anti-depressants we wonder if....
.....A nation which clearly ingests anti-depressants and sleeping
pills, both for domestic and military mood improvement.
.....A nation which has more stress in 2010 than in 2008 when this article
was written.
.....A nation which is tempered with scandal of celebrities and politicians on a daily basis
.....A nation given a carrot
stick disguised as medical care in order to allow socialism
.....A nation with a diminished manufacturing base and near bankrupt cities.
WILL THIS NATION VIEW THE ISSUES TOO LARGE TO SOLVE.
WILL THIS NATION SUCCOMB TO MILITIA MOVEMENT RHETORIC rather than the careful
instruction of the lessons from history.
OR WILL THIS NATION RESTORE THE SIMPLER LAWS OF THE REPUBLIC WITHOUT A GRADUATED INCOME TAX?
