Military drug tests rising in Iraq, Afghanistan

[Barrett808]

The military is increasing drug testing of its forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, in part out of concern that troops will turn to drugs because of combat stress, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Drug use is low in the military and primarily limited to marijuana, said Mary Beth Long, deputy assistant defense secretary for counternarcotics. She spoke with the American Forces Press Service, an internal military news service.

Concerns about drug use center on Afghanistan, which has become the world's leading provider of opium since the U.S.-led campaign that drove the Taliban from power three years ago. Opium poppies can be refined into heroin. Last year, Afghanistan accounted for 87 percent of the world's opium supply.

"One of the lessons that we have learned from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (late 1970s through late '80s) is that those troops went back to Russia with a drug problem," Long told the news service. "Our forces are obviously very, very different. We certainly have no expectation that they would suffer the same kind of issues."

(more)

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=national&story_id=121104b1_military_drugtest

[tridim]

1. It's obvious our troops are different than Russian troops?

Obvious to who? People are people regardless of where they're from.

[Cocoa]

11. it's not obvious to me either

maybe you and I are idiots, who don't see the "obvious" superiority of our troops compared to Russian troops in resisting addiction. :shrug:

[frankly_fedup2]

2. Yeah right, like the military would send anyone home for anything . . .

even failing a drug test. I wonder how many gay men have come out and are still over there?

When they send them back into combat once they have lost a limb and are using a prosthetic, what's next . . . soldiers in wheelchairs tied to the back of the Humvees? Sounds ridiculously cruel; however, I wouldn't put anything past our government.

[DS1]

6. dock their pay and make them work for free

and THEN see what kind of performance you get :eyes:

[DemoTex]

3. But it is OK to officially sanction "uppers" for fighter pilots.

Exigencies of the fight against terra, and all that crap.

[jukes]

4. this is the dumbest shit

to come out of the propaganda mill.

the north vietnamese learned to distribute heroin as psyops late in the war. this irag resistance and their AQ advisers have learned all the lessons from that war, & the russian invasion of afghanistan. our leaders just don't care about working-class soldiers as long as profits are up.

afghanistan will have a huge crop of poppies this year, which we won't destroy for political reasons. a lot of that O will be converted to H, & will be sold to our troops, hungry for any escape from the horrors.

there will be a huge drug problem in the states when we start cycling these guys back, surviving iraq to become casualties in the Drug War...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. I agree...

We had a huge problem in Vietnam, and when those guys came back. What moron thinks that we Americans have forgotten that, when they were our fathers and uncles.

..Long told the news service. "Our forces are obviously very, very different. We certainly have no expectation that they would suffer the same kind of issues."

Just repeat the lies, and Reality will go away..I promise.

:evilfrown:

[Barrett808]

8. I remember one study found that 1 in 3 GIs from Vietnam were junkies

That is, addicted to heroin. Sounds plausible to me -- anybody have corroborating evidence?

[frankly_fedup2]

10. What drug war???? Our government is helping bring these drugs . . .

into the U.S. and this is no conspiracy BS either. How do I know this. Two reasons.

1. After 9/11 and after we went into Afghanistan. The poppy fields were planted and were being cultivated until harvest. With all the money we have put into this supposed war on Terror, for some reason, we could not pay these farmers to grow anything else. You see, by growing poppy to make the Heroin for the demanding war/drug lords over there, these farmers make a fortune of $2-300 a harvest. Imagine making all that money in a year. Then, they have to pay the war/drug lords a percentage upon their harvest, and if they do not, they will be killed.

Even with the billions of dollars we are now investing in Iraq, we still were putting in quite a bit of money in Afghanistan. Of course, more in bombs like Daisy cutters. But we still have a huge amount of money promised to Afghanistan and its people.

When representatives were asked by the media why our Government did not just pay the farmers to grow something else, pay the war/drug lords not to kill these people for growing a crop of something that would feed everyone, and show them it would be more profitable all the way around not to grow the poppies, and burn the poppy fields before harvest. Our Government's spokesman stated that our police would get the drugs as they were trying to be sneaked into the country through Columbia and the border with Mexico (which costs millions of dollars, does not stop the drugs from coming in, and more people losing their lives).

Now, does that sound like our Government does not want these drugs coming into this country? Wouldn't it have been easier to destroy the poppy fields that produce the Heroin and pay these farmers 4 times the amount as well as the war/drug lords plus help them to feed more of their own people and themselves? I think that is a redundant question.

But here is why the Government and the DEA, State Police, County Police, Town Police and on down want those drugs to get into this country. It's all profitable for these agencies. You see, if they bust someone with large amounts of drugs, albeit Marijuana (which will never be legalized for this exact same reason), Heroine, Cocaine, etc., all the property the distributor owns including homes, land, cars, even the clothes off their backs are then auctioned off, and the Department that got the big drug bust gets all the money from all the auctions. Not for personal use (well not suppose to but we all know there is a little corruption here and there. Look at NYC Commissioner. The man had a home and 2 park avenue apartments. He was living pretty large, huh. However, the money they get from these drug busts and the auctions that follow do allow them to get bonuses, raises, more equipment, vehicles, etc.

So to end this (sorry so long), there is no "war on drugs." It is another myth our Government has put out there for the masses to believe.

It is to profitable for the law enforcement agencies in this country. That is why they don't want the little pushers, they want the big guys. The big guys have the 3-4 million dollar homes in other parts of the country, the expensive cars, the big bank accounts.

If you do not believe me, just look at the newspapers and DEA car auctions every week, especially in the cities.

I remember when I was in my 20's there were Black People stating that the FBI were bringing the drugs into their neighborhoods, trying to keep them down, trying to keep them hooked on the drugs. I thought they were ridiculous to make such statements. I really do not know if this is true; however, I don't put anything past our Government and the agencies involved.

We have checks and balances (or we are suppose to); however, our founding fathers must not have thought about any checks or balances for any of the Government Agencies that have come to be since our Constitution was written.

[leesa]

17. The US military ALSO provided drugs to their soldiers.

I suspect they are doing the same now. How else does one cope with what they are being forced to do, without any end in sight?

[TrueAmerican]

7. Alcohol is a major problem overthere

I wonder why the news media hasn't reported that?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

9. careful now... your sarcasm is showing...LOL n/t

[MADem]

12. They probably won't be finding pot

More like the red or gold seal hash, an Afghan speciality, found in all of the bazaars over there from the UAE to Saudi to Iraq to Iran to Turkey. No problem to buy it, just don't be taking it out of the country--then, it's Midnight Express time. Of course, our forces aren't wandering the marketplace, because they are not welcome, but I am sure the enterprising Local National workers on base who wash dishes, do janitorial work, etc., might be persuaded to cart the goods on the installations, and charge a hefty markup (but no doubt still a bargain).

That's how it always starts....

[bemildred]

13. Does it get you out of combat if you "fail the test"? nt

[warrens]

14. Does anyone else believe that 87% figure?

What about Laos and Cambodia and Burma and Colombia? It ain't like poppies are RARE. I keep seeing that figure thrown around, but I have never seen any proof of it. If it were true, there would have been an enormous heroin shortage during the 90s when the Taliban basically shut down half of production. There wasn't, though.

[Just Me]

15. Just put them on expensive prescription drugs.

That'll solve everything. :eyes:

I am pretty damned sure that leaving them in combat will fail to reduce combat stress. :eyes:

My father served in Vietnam. He never really had a quality life due to PTSD. He died ten years ago at 54,...gunshot while hunting. Ugh.

[Supersedeas]

16. Drug testing is answer to combat stress--not shorted rotations for an

overextended military.

[Massachusetts]

18. The Human Spirit

can take only so much intense pressure, tragedy, lonliness, and out right boredom.

Different war, different location same species.:mad:

[Bridget Burke]

19. John Prine wrote this song.....

Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

www.jpshrine.org/lyrics/songs/jpsamstone.html

Since the "conflict overseas" is unnamed, the song is quite current.