Beast of Profit with a Medical Smile

The “epidemic” of veteran and military suicides continues to harvest at least 22 lives a day. This official figure from the Veterans Administration is regarded as conservative. Yet even this “low” number points out that over 8000 suicides per year are killing far more US soldiers than all the world’s terrorists combined.

Commentators agree that PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) pushes the victims into the sleep of no return, but they haven’t a clue about how to deal with it. The chorus of confusion can be summed by David Wood’s article in Huffington Post (Aug. 29, 2013):
Military And Veteran Suicides Rise Despite Aggressive Prevention Efforts

The suicide numbers are rising despite a determined push by the Pentagon and the VA to connect troops to a proliferation of resources. These range from immediate crisis intervention, to specific therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of trauma, to broader mental health services, peer mentoring, resiliency training, and financial and relationship counseling.

This isn’t standard bullshit, but shit from an elephant with diarrhea. More than many scandals have shown us that veterans are treated as junk once their usefulness in the field has been exhausted. The real problem, the elephant in the public room, seems to remain hidden from the media in spite of its stink. Replace the word “despite” in title above with “because of” and the elephant appears trumpeting its sickening truth.

The miles of print about PSTD and the suicides contain not a word about Pharma (Big Pharmaceutical Corporations). Yet the drugs prescribed to the soldiers and veterans are the most likely cause of the suicides as well as their deaths by accident (2-5 times as many traffic deaths as the general population), and the extreme numbers of homicides committed against family, lovers and friends.

Two quotes from Martha Rosenberg’s book (2012) can sum up the case. Born With a Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks, and Hacks Pimp the Public Health

1

Chad Oligschlaeger was prescribed a cocktail of drugs, Zolpidem (sleeping pill); Trazodone (antidepressant); Prozac and Zoloft (antidepressants); propranolol (blood-pressure); larazepam and clonazepam (anti-anxiety)); Chantix (antismoking) and Seroquel.
He died of “accidental” death due to multiple-drug toxicity according to the official report. When his mother showed the medical records to a doctor from Texas A&M University, she said; “You realize the military killed your son. Don’t you? The drugs Chad was taking should only have been prescribed in a clinical setting, and even then, not prescribed together.”

2
“Tales of over medication are the rule, not the exception.”

Martha documents how Pharma aggressively (and illegally) pushes pills to maintain the flow of profits into the multi-billion dollar drug business. The industry works on the “Monsanto Principle”: Disregard laws, rules, regulations and concern for people! Should you get caught, the fine will be easily affordable.

Pharma employs troops of doctors-for-hire who verify and promote medications. They plant articles in prestigious journals; conduct sloppy research to hide rather than illustrate the effects of drugs; sit on key committees and take part in conferences. With billion-dollar profits pouring in, Pharma can afford to shower medical experts, politicians and government institutions with millions.

The military didn’t kill Chad Oligschlaeger, Pharma did. Distinguished board members in designer clothes and spotless hands killed Chad, along with 10s of 1000s of his comrades, as surely as if they had slit their throats. They continue to do so as witnessed by the continued suicides, accidents and homicides.

The section about Pharma targeting the military market accounts for a small part of Martha Rosenburg’s book. She shows that like a beast of prey, Pharma prefers to attack the young, the weak and the sick. Because of Pharma’s efforts millions of children are now designated as sick, deficient and disturbed—because they act like children. With the right medication, these kids can be “helped” to act like calm and passive (drugged) small individuals. Some of them may commit suicide, but hey, a little collateral damage must be expected.

Pharma is not particularly evil as far as corporations go. Pharma does what corporations do. It hunts profits. All other considerations, be it to people, the environment or the future, play a minor role.

*

“The truth is hard but I’m gonna tell it!
There’s a whole lot of ways to sell it!”
Tom Paxton (lyrics to The Hooker)

*

*