PTSD: VA Failure and Veteran Alcoholism

PTSD and alcoholism in veterans are connected.

Welcome to Iraq

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I don’t remember if I was surprised that the Army trained its recruits to be alcoholics but reminiscing of my experience in basic training and advanced infantry training it certainly seems so.

No recruit ever considered after the first week that basic would be easy and certainly NOT fun. We were psychologically and physically stretched beyond NORMAL limits and many recruits died. A bunch more were permanently psychologically damaged and the end result was PTSD even during training.

As a regular general practice physician and later as a marijuana doctor I saw the results of the Army and Marines success at producing alcoholics. The name of the game was to TRAIN us about the really crazy CHAOS of combat. We became jumpy as cats at a rocking chair convention. So what did we do after chaos episodes – hit the beer hall for a snootfull!

Most recruits were under 20 years and were never legal enough to buy beer – til they got in the military, then the beer tsunami!

I decided to check the computer to see if anybody agreed or disagreed with me. I found all sorts of responses both ways. I believe most people know that tobacco and alcohol kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. The worst thing is that too many are Veterans who totally gave up on VA PTSD drugs and reverted to what they discovered in basic training. One startling statistic was that 70% of Vietnam Vets had/have alcohol problems. Another said that 80% of PTSD war veterans have alcohol abuse problems. Some VA researchers published that alcohol abuse was caused by NON-ADHERENCE to VA drugs. I had heard from many veteran Medical Marijuana applicants that VA drugs usually made their problems worse.

Not all alcohol users are abusers but one study indicated that with 25-44 year group that up to 76% of males used alcohol and 58% of women. Alcohol is certainly the MOST USED tranquilizer.

The actual death statistics are troubling. There seems to be a reluctance to write alcoholism on death certificates but re-examination shows that alcoholism is by far a greater cause of death than is commonly known.

The PTSD and alcoholism rates among combat vets reinforces my observations. Around 12% of active duty military abuse alcohol and 15% of Reserve and National Guard have the same problem. Other than death by natural causes, cirrhosis etc about 30% of suicides are alcohol related. Another troubling statistic is that among the approximately 300,000 homeless veterans, alcoholism is a frequent problem. A side note is that there are 27,000 homeless veterans in the Los Angeles area.

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glenn nichol December 18, 2010 7:39 am (Pacific time)

Why can't the VA use the best drug marijuana? Because it's against the federal law. Simple as that. Being a Vietnam combat veteran the images of the war and memories are an everyday occurance in my life and I agree that pot is relief from everyday stress but unfortunatly illegal in the federal eye's. I have sufferd for 40 yrs. and for the first ten was out of control for what reason I wasn't sure. I seeked help in the 80's but didn't see how some head shrink was going to erase what I had experienced there some I medicated myself. As long as I had marijuana all was good and I was happy, then the drug testing started and I lost several jobs due to random testing. If you google my name you can read a story I wrote on just three day's in Laos which doesn't include the othe 362 day's of fear.

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