HOW THE VA FUELED THE NATIONAL OPIOID CRISIS AND IS KILLING THOUSANDS OF VETERANS
Late one summer night in 2014, Kevin Keller broke into his best friend’s home. Keller was a U.S. Navy vet wracked with constant pain, and because his right arm had been crippled by a stroke, he had to use his left hand to scrawl a note of apology to his buddy: “Marty, Sorry I broke into your house and took your gun to end the pain! FU VA!!! Can’t take it anymore.” He then drove to his nearby Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Wytheville, Virginia, and pounded on the locked doors of the medical office, probably out of frustration or as a final protest, since the facility had been closed for hours. Keller then put the barrel of his friend’s 9 mm pistol to his head and shot himself .
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Suicides like Keller’s and the widespread despair behind them are yet another tragic element of a national opioid crisis blamed for most of the 64,000 fatal drug overdoses a year. Opioids, mostly illegally obtained counterfeit pills and heroin, now account for 63 percent of all drug deaths in the U.S., with fatalities climbing at an astounding rate of nearly 20 percent a year.
In fact, the estimated number of drug deaths in 2016 topped the total number of soldiers killed in the Iraq and Vietnam wars.
In fact, the estimated number of drug deaths in 2016 topped the total number of soldiers killed in the Iraq and Vietnam wars.
There’s a grim irony in that statistic, because the Department of Veterans Affairs has played a little-discussed role in fueling the opioid epidemic that is killing civilians and veterans alike.
I actually can attest to that because I saw it unfold in front of my eyes. I used to work in a mental health facility on their detox wing, and there was this one guy who used to come in at least one visit a month for crack addiction. I immediately took an interest in him due because I found out he used to be in the Marines also. Now even though he was homeless and smoking crack he always physically seemed to look healthy and full of energy. I finally helped him get in contact with the VA in which they found out he had PTSD so that qualified him for disability because it came about due to his tour in the Gulf War. With that he was able to get off the street and get him a place to stay. Now fast forward 6 months later, he comes back into detox, off crack but now addicted to oxycotins, he said the VA prescribed it for him because he told them he had back problems. In a word he looked terrible, he had lost well over 50lbs most of his muscle definition, 3 months later I heard he died from an oxytocin overdose, after that I refuse any and every prescription from the VA, I just go for checkups and annual visits
The really sad part is that VA isn't doing anything to fix the problem-- in fact they are actually making it worse (although they are not the only ones...