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Goran Tomasevic / REUTERS file
U.S. Marines patrol in front of a poppy field in a village in the Golestan district of Farah province, May 4, 2009.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army has investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan on suspicion of using or distributing heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011, newly obtained data shows. Eight soldiers died of drug overdoses during that time.
While the cases represent just a slice of possible drug use by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, they provide a somber snapshot of the illicit trade in the war zone, including young Afghans peddling heroin, soldiers dying after mixing cocktails of opiates, troops stealing from medical bags and Afghan soldiers and police dealing drugs to their U.S. comrades.
In a country awash with poppy fields that provide up to 90 percent of the world's opium, the U.S. military struggles to keep an eye on its far-flung troops and monitor for substance abuse.
But U.S. Army officials say that while the presence of such readily available opium — the raw ingredient for heroin — is a concern, opiate abuse has not been a pervasive problem for troops in Afghanistan.
"We have seen sporadic cases of it, but we do not see it as a widespread problem, and we have the means to check," said Col. Tom Collins, an Army spokesman.
Get an intimate view of the lives of infantry soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division, as they encounter danger and then have down time in Logar Province, Afghanistan.
PhotoBlog: Lifting the veil on Afghanistan's female addicts
The data represents only the criminal investigations done by Army Criminal Investigation Command involving soldiers in Afghanistan during those two years. The cases, therefore, are just a piece of the broader drug use statistics released by the Army earlier this year reporting nearly 70,000 drug offenses by roughly 36,000 soldiers between 2006-2011. The number of offenses increased from about 9,400 in 2010 to about 11,200 in 2011.
The overdose totals for the two years, however, are double the number that the Defense Department has reported as drug-related deaths in Afghanistan for the last decade. Defense officials suggested that additional deaths may have been categorized as "other" or were still under investigation when the statistics were submitted.
The data was requested by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and obtained by The Associated Press. The Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have not yet responded to the request for similar information. The Army reports blacked out the names of the soldiers who were under investigation as well any resolution of their cases or punishments they may have received.
Danger not 'fully acknowledged' by military
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the numbers signal the need for the military leadership to be more vigilant about watching and warning troops in Afghanistan about drug abuse. He said the worry is that "the danger, including the danger of dying, hasn't been fully acknowledged by the military and it needs to be."
Army officials say they do random drug testing through the service and the goal is that every soldier is tested at least once a year. Top Army leaders have said they have not met that goal, but have been working steadily to substantially increase the number of those tested each year.
The officials also say the Army's Criminal Investigative Division has quarterly drug statistics that show that drug use by troops in Afghanistan is not greater than that of troops in installations back in the United States and there is less of a variance in drugs used by troops in Afghanistan.
Rahmat Gul / AP
More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
According to Army data, an average of 1.38 million urine samples have been tested annually over the past five years, while an annual average of 106,000 soldiers were not tested at all. Officials said that regular testing is even more difficult in the war zone because the testing facilities are often far away.
The cases reflect a broad range of incidents, describing accidental overdoses as well as soldiers buying drugs from Afghan troops, stealing morphine from medical aid bags or, in some cases, taking steroids, using drugs prescribed to someone else or taking medications long after their prescriptions had expired.
Drugs bought from Afghan Army, police
In one overdose case, a member of the Kentucky National Guard was found dead of "acute heroin toxicity" at his Afghanistan base after a soldier, also in the Kentucky Guard, bought heroin from a civilian contractor and used it with him. The report found that he also had morphine and codeine in his system.
Others more often involved soldiers who were found dead and were later determined to have taken a mix of prescription and other opiate drugs.
ARCHIVAL VIDEO, Oct. 20, 2009: Author Gerald Posner and former CIA Special Agent Jack Rice discuss a report by the Daily Beast which suggests that the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan have launched a new offensive against U.S. soldiers – get them addicted to heroin to undermine their effectiveness.
The nonlethal cases range from a soldier failing a random drug test to more organized abuse.
In one case, seven members of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division were found to have smoked hashish and/or ingested heroin numerous times, including some bought from members of the Afghan Army and police. The investigation found that one other brigade soldier acted as a lookout while others used the drugs.
Afghan farmer: I tried, but have to grow poppies to survive
Opium is a key revenue source in Afghanistan, both for the farmers and the insurgency, which can make money selling, transporting or processing the drugs. According to a U.N. report, revenue from opium production in Afghanistan soared by 133 percent in 2011, to about $1.4 billion, or about one-tenth of the country's GDP.
Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
We don't need to look only at our military to see that our nation is rotten with drug abuse.Can anyone really blame our troops for abusing drugs,when they signed up for duty they didn't realize that the nation was going to hell.That our leaders would become so divided that they would try to destroy our country just make the other side look bad.That our leaders would allow politics to divide them to the point where they can't get anything done to help our country,get out of this mess.I want to puke every time I hear politicians speak of bipartisanship,they don't know the meaning of that word and I hope you people are as fed up as I am and vote the bastards out,unfortunately I don't think enough of us have the bills to follow through.You'll just want to sit there on your little chair arm and just be satisfied with whatever they give you.So go ahead and whine about everything that is wrong and suck on your little pacifier and vote your partyline."You can't continue to do things the same way and expect a different outcome".So if you liked the way things worked for you under Dubya vote Republican,if not you need to change.
What's the government going to do to them when they get caught ? Send them to Afghanistan ?
You have a point.
Wake up America it is long past due for this counrty to get out of Afgahnistan. Our troops have been told to leave the poppy fields alone as they are fighting in a country where drugs are readilly available. We cannot win over there and will not change that country. We should not be surprised at what happens over .Do not blame the troops rather blame the politicians who got us into that mess to begin with. They are the crimminals who need to be brought to justice.
Yes Dan....lets not have any "personal responsibility"!
Dan, do we blame the politicians for Vietnam and the massive drug use? I don't think Bush was in office at that time. Who do we blame for Agent Orange? Look at your friends and tell me how many do you know that were in Nam or kids of vets that don't have physical problems. I'm losing my friends right and left.....Oh, I'm a baby boomer. Look at the amount of cancer in 40yrs olds.
Heck yes, if I was around all that yummy opium, I'd have my opium pipe full all the time, have a real good, feel good time. Bet there's some fine Afghan weed there to. Some Afghan Kush, now that sounds great. Proud supporter of Legalizing Drugs, let's stop prohibition and war on drugs. Drugs don't abuse people, people abuse drugs. Moderation and common sense is the key. Like if a person drinks too much water, out goes the electrolytes, a death soon follows. Self Government is best form of Government, to Govern oneself. I don't need Big Brother controlling by God given body, I can do that, be it, live or die.
Yeah, and seeing how the US army both grows and distributes it into the US, you'd expect to be able to use it right? And seeing how the US army actually controls the growth and distribution of marijuana in the Mexican Cartels you'd think we'd have a free go at that too. I mean, I'd personally spend a hell of alot of money on weed than I do if it was actually available all the time. The blackmarket mentality is BS. It doesn't get you more profit, it just makes for bullies.
Cheers bro. Here's to the freedom to moderate one's actions health.
Never forget.....given the means and opportunity MOST people will do corrupted or bad behavior especially if they think they can get away with it. This explains most of what goes on in the world.
It's true, that they play SUBLIME'S "Smoke 2 Joints" at military medal ceremonies.
Warprofiteer -how many Politicians do you have on your payroll?Is it true that the "Black Opts" program is really a retirement plan for Senators,with numbered,off-shore bank accounts?Or are you a solo operator?
This whole story is just a cheap ploy by the army to disguise the fact that they are growing the opium, bringing it to the US, and selling it to dealers that put it in the hands of OUR TEENS.
So 75 junkies in the army got caught. Here's the double standard again, because thousands of military personel knowingly use drugs and are slid through the system as long as they don't cause trouble and show up for work. But oh boy, if you the citizen want to smoke reefer, watch out. You'll get prison!
So yeah, I have no respect for the army or the writers of this article or for my government for that matter because they are the dealers and growers and commanders of the prisons.
Quite frankly I'm done with the lies. Here's my middle finger for you all.
Any one that would do opiates in a battle zone is asking to step on an I.E.D.
Just like was discovered during the Viet Nam War I wonder how much heroine is coming back to the states smuggled in dead soldiers caskets..
It's not caskets anymore. Now they just put it aboard planes openly.
We're a security force for the Karzai Drug Cartel. How long do you think he'd want us there if we started dropping napalm on all the poppy fields and started torching them ?
We're not just the security force, we're the MAIN CUSTOMER. It all goes C140 to the states bro.
Our government LETS them grow poppies!! WHY???? Oh so the poor dirt farmer can make money---how utterly stupid!!!
Simple solution---get rid for the poppy fields (thus putting a big dent in the world supply of opiates) and make these people grow food--you know the kind you eat!!
If they can grop one kind of plant ----then they can grow others.
I wonder what would happen if all the US tobacco crops were eradicated and cigs removed from the shelves. 800,000 lives per year would be save in the US alone. Surely these same US farmers would be willing to grow other crops that offer a lower ROI. There would be no black market for tobacco? LOL. The premise of your argument is a non-starter without any moral authority and the US has none.
Get them all out of there! They have made it abundantly clear that they are incapable of fighting a war, forget about winning one! Buying off the Taliban and the crooked leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan isn't working either. New military command structure, leadership, recruitment and retention is clearly in order. The United States military needs to be a professional organization that is run by professionals and only recruits and retains professionals. You get what you pay for and it will be decades - if ever - before the damage these clowns have done is forgotten. Absolutely unbelievable how low this country has sunk!
Ever since Armies have been going to war, drug use was common. Whether it was Alcohol to Excess or Morphine addiction there has always been and (probably) always be a place where Soldiers can go and have gone to escape the horrors of their day-to-day life.
The problems really begin when the addictions are brought home to their Civilian Life. THAT is the necessity for weeding out the problem while it is still IN the service. Problems with individuals are easier to treat with than allowing them to spread to the ruination of the VETERAN'S Families and Communities.
Can't wait for the first politician to say, "Yes, I smoked opium, but, I didn't inhale."
What I get tired of is the headline that makes our Soldiers all look bad, wrong and now drug addicts. Go back to other wars, and this has went on, said to say how many of our boys came home from Veitam and Korea with addiction, it is a hard place to be against human nature to do what we ask of them. But to attempt with every headline to make the woman and men of our troops look bad to sell papers on product drives one nuts.
Sounds like Viet Nam all over again.
Zodiac, I agree with your post. If the facts be known the current heroin from Afgan is going to Russia and iraq, which I believe as Zodiac points out this is a strategy yes it is. Also, I assure you, the problem is alot worse than any military stats show, they have always turned a blind eye to the actual extent of drug use, especially in a war zone. You think with the amount of stress these young people are going through and being in the middle of all that heroin that the soldiers are not going to use the drug to escape? Not hardly. I appreciate the comment made about the news media and the selection of stories they provide. There is many many good stories about our service-people but you don't see many of them do we.
So you have alot of people on disability and welfare that are genuinely sick and have to take prescribed narcotics. It would be a complete waste of time and money for the Gov. and us tax payers to test them for drugs when more than likely their going to come up dirty for taking their Rx prescribed. It would be a mess considering all the cases that would have to be reviewed and then eventually reversed. It just wouldnt work on may different levels. Wont happen!
Can't say I blame them. Bring them home Mr President.
You said you would, and here we are four years later.
Lorrie- I disagree bringing it out into the open, talking about it and educating people is never a bad thing. We are talking a about a small % of the military, and just like all walks of life, military has it's alcoholics, drug user's and abuser's. Heck this country has poppy fields, growing everywhere!
I agree with burning down all the poppy fields, giving them some seed, and teaching them to grow food. That openly growing poppy fields for drugs will not be tolerated!
ANOTHER clueless response, supply and demand, just like every other commodity. Money wins out on every occasion.
The new wave of heroin users that we need to keep the drug trade alive the new wave of users no longer here, to replace the ones after the Viet Nam war , it was the same thing how else will they keep us going fighting economic wars. We can drown in drugs afterwards instead of mental wards. ..
You are a drug user if you......drink coffee, soda, and alcohol, or if you chew or smoke tobacco, or consume processed foods. I am pretty sure all of these can be bought at any military commissary. Far more soldiers have lost their lives from alcohol and tobacco abuse than war itself. You want a drug free military, clean up your home, at home. This article is non-sense.
These poor guys are deployed in what has got to be the biggest toilet on Earth and they are addicted to heroin. How could that have possibly happened. Please bring them home Mr. President our brave soldiers have done all they can and are just not going to be able to win this one. They only way to help the Afghans is to let them help themselves.
The axis of evil .The drugs undermine societies the war on poppies corrupts our souls. Bring drugs and crime to our streets, crime to our schools and gang streets wars bring more drugs to heal the pains of war. The poppy war the axis of goods evil. The circle of pain continues...bow down to the POPPY ! kill it before it grows. Sheriff John Bwrown will be waiting to cut it down !