Fentanyl, a drug that has gained widespread national attention in recent years for its role in the U.S. opioid epidemic, was involved in 174 overdoses, or about 52% of overdose cases, in the military between 2017 and 2021, according to Defense Department data. Fatal fentanyl overdoses more than doubled during that span, from 36% of overdoses in 2017 to 88% in 2021.
\nThe Pentagon compiled the data as part of a request from a bipartisan group of senators in September. The data also show that while the Air Force and Army saw small increases in overall overdose deaths during that time period, those same statistics among Marines and sailors doubled.
\n\u201cOur military is not immune to the opioid epidemic. We have lost countless service members to overdose, and if we fail to take action to protect those in uniform, we will lose countless more,\u201d Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a release Wednesday. \u201cThe Department of Defense\u2019s latest report underscores the urgency of this moment and our need to ensure access to quality care and treatment without stigma or shame.\u201d
\nThousands of service members on active duty suffered drug and alcohol overdoses between 2017 and 2021, the data show, with 332 of those cases resulting in death. Overdose deaths represented 7% of all military deaths during that period.
\nBroken down,\u00a0fentanyl\u00a0was present in 73 cases, while another 101 involved another drug taken along with fentanyl. There were 45 cases, or about 14%, involving heroin.
\nNon-opioid overdoses included 84 cases \u2014 or 25% of all fatal overdoses \u2014 of mixed drugs, including alcohol, cocaine, diphenhydramine (an antihistamine) and other over-the-counter, prescription or illicit drugs. There were also 29 fatal incidents involving alcohol overdose, just under 9% of the total number.
\nOf the non-fatal cases, 22 involved fentanyl, though the data noted that the drug only received its own category in 2020. Overall opioid-involved overdoses totaled 1,010 cases between 2017 and 2022. Another 1,800 or so cases involved benzodiazepines, amphetamines, cocaine, LSD, cannabis and other narcotics, according to the report.
\nAnother 13,284 cases were included in general categories, such as poisonings of an assortment of drugs and medications \u2015 cough medicine, antipsychotics, and antiepileptics, for example \u2015 2,638 of which involved antidepressants.
\n\u201cThe Army annual rate of fatal OD deaths remained relatively unchanged from 6.5 per 100,000 service members (36 deaths) in 2017 to 6.1 per 100,000 Service members (35 deaths) in 2021,\u201d according to the report.
\nOver the same period, the Air Force reported 45 deaths, while the Marine Corps counted 36. The Navy, meanwhile, reported 80.
\n\u201cAir Force deaths have increased slightly over time from nine deaths in 2017 to 11 in 2021,\u201d according to the report. \u201cDuring the same period, USMC and Navy OD deaths have doubled from five and [11] deaths, respectively, in 2017 to 10 and 21 in 2021.\u201d
\nYoung, white, enlisted men were disproportionately affected by fatal overdoses, according to the data. More than 80% were under 33, 77% were white, 16% Black and about 4% unknown. Enlisted personnel accounted for 96% of fatal overdoses, while men comprised 92.5% of that total.
\nBy comparison, about 65% of the military is under 30 years old, 70% of the force is white, 80% is enlisted and 80% is male.
\nIn response, according to the report, DoD is working to beef up prevention and treatment programs, but officials acknowledge that there is still stigma around seeking treatment for substance abuse.
\n\u201cAddressing drug abuse and preventing overdose deaths in our force is a high priority for the Department of Defense,\u201d Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon\u2019s personnel boss, wrote in letters to the senators. \u201cEvery drug overdose is a preventable loss of life and we must work to do better. The Department continues to evaluate, refine, and improve strategies for overdose prevention to ensure we are making every effort to prevent these tragic deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n
Militarytimes<\/p>\n
Tags:deaths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fentanyl, a drug that has gained widespread national attention in recent years for its role in the U.S. opioid epidemic, was involved in 174 overdoses, or about 52% of overdose cases, in the military between 2017 and 2021, according to Defense Department data. Fatal fentanyl overdoses more than doubled during that span, from 36% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1728,1159,1160],"class_list":["post-5943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-fentanyl","tag-more","tag-than"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5943"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10512,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5943\/revisions\/10512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}