Hundreds of troops have died from drug overdoses, the US military reportedly told Congress
More than 15,000 US military service members have overdosed on illicit drugs in the past five years, and 332 of those cases have resulted in death, the Pentagon has reportedly admitted in response to questions from Congress.
The data was given this week to five US senators, led by Massachusetts Democrats Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Rolling Stone reported on Wednesday. The senators had written to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin last September, demanding information on overdoses in the ranks, after the magazine revealed that as many as 30 US soldiers died from overdoses at Fort Bragg in 2020 and 2021. The base in North Carolina is the headquarters for America’s special forces, among other things.
“The loss of a single service member to a fatal overdose is one loss too many,” Markey said on Wednesday. “With hundreds of fatal overdoses reported on US military bases, the toll is mounting. We can and must stop America’s overdose crisis.”
The loss of a single service member to a fatal overdose is one loss too many. With hundreds of fatal overdoses reported on U.S. military bases, the toll is mounting—we can and must stop America's overdose crisis. https://t.co/w0VcanB9Eu
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) February 15, 2023
Fentanyl accounted for more than half of the military overdose deaths, the Pentagon said. In fact, deaths from the synthetic opioid have more than doubled since 2017, following a similar trajectory with America’s overall drug crisis. The US had nearly 107,000 civilian overdose deaths in 2021, including more than 71,000 linked to fentanyl, according to government data.
The military’s overdose deaths have paralleled those in the civilian population in other ways, too. For instance, 96% of those who died were enlisted service members, rather than officers, just as the vast majority of civilian cases involve people without college degrees. The overwhelming majority of service members who died from drug overdoses were white males under the age of 33.
There were high concentrations of overdoses at bases that host Army infantrymen, Green Berets and other elite soldiers, Rolling Stone wrote, claiming “this is likely no coincidence,” as these formations have “borne nearly all of the brunt of the past decade of war in Afghanistan and a half-dozen other countries.”
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
