Imagine the person defending our country, armed with an automatic rifle, a grenade and high as a kite. For many of our service men that is the case. Soldiers are under an enormous amount of physical and mental stress, many use prescription drugs, street drugs, and a combination to cope. According to a 2012 Department of Defense study of military lifestyle, while the overall civilian rates of prescription drug misuse for all populations of civilians was 4.4%, the rate for the Department of Defense was 11.7%, over two-and-a-half times higher than the civilian rate. According to another study done in 2012, 43% of active-duty military self-reported binge drinking within the past 30 days. Many active duty soldiers and veterans use and abuse drugs to cope with pain and depression on the field, and post traumatic stress of of the field, due to these numbers increasing yearly more treatment programs and prevention programs are being established. .
In earlier days where drugs were first becoming popular many soldiers received a great benefit from drugs. Use dating back as far as the civil war, many soldiers used drugs to fight pain, depressions and sometimes even boredom. During the US Civil War (1861–1865), morphine, delivered via a hypodermic syringe, was used to numb pain and also used as anesthesia for procedures such as amputations. During Vietnam (1955–1975), use of heroin was common in the army to cope with the challenges of conflict in a setting of dislocation and devastation (Bennett & Golub, 2012; Bergen-Cico, 2011; Courtwright, 2001; Robins, 1974). Many soldiers were dealing with the physical stress of wounds, over strenuous activity, and harsh living environments. The use of drugs such as cocaine helped soldiers in Vietnam stay awake, many claimed it helped to take their mind off of their situation. Today, soldiers of the wars in afghanistan and Iraq look to alcohol, prescription drugs such as antidepressants, many claim use of both allows them to "numb the pain.
