During the Vietnam War drug abuse by GIs was rampant. There are no reports of marijuana or heroin consumption in Iraq, but the drugs of this war may just be different ones.
A German magazine reports today about a suicide by overdose of Sergeant Worster in Iraq. Additionally the magazine reports of frequent drug parties within Woster’s medical unit.
The weekly Stern, reliable but for certain diaries, claims that Sgt. James R. Worster died from a self administered injection of Propofol, an anesthetic agent used in intensive care.
Alcohol is officially not available and off limits for soldiers in Iraq. As most troops are working in enclosed bases, the usual illegal stuff may be hard to come by.
But pharmaceutical drugs seem to be everywhere. Speed and downers are officially used by U.S. pilots and special forces despite well known side effects. Psychotropics are officially prescribed in PTSD cases and used in self medication.
Sgt. Georg Anderas Pogany told Salon that after he broke down in Iraq, his team sergeant told him “to pull himself together, gave him two Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, and ordered him to sleep.”
Other soldiers self-medicate. “We were so junked out on Valium, we had no emotions anymore,” Iraq vet John Crawford told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross. He and others in his unit in Iraq became addicted to Valium.
But Better living through chemistry did not work for Sergeant Worster. According to Stern, his comrades found him with the needle still sticking in his arm.
The Pentagon announced Worster’s death as a "non-combat related incident" on September 19, 2006. It said, "the incident is under investigation."
The Stern reporter interviewed seven of the Sergeant’s comrades, his mother, siblings and his wife.
Worster was on his second tour in Iraq, had marriage problems and suffered from his depressing job as shift supervisor in a busy Army emergency room unit near Baghdad.
According to the magazine’s sources there were frequent drug parties throughout the unit. Alcohol was sent from the U.S. disguised as mouthwash and bought from Iraqi suppliers. The soldiers, including noncommissioned officers and junior officers, additionally consumed large amounts of Ambien, Percocet and other opiate derivatives. Doctors are said to have sold drugs from the unit’s pharmacy.
iCasualties.org, which takes its data from Pentagon casualties announcements, only lists 5 suicide death throughout the war on Iraq. Others report at least 81.
Stern reports that there was an investigation of Worster’s death by Military Police, and a Colonel of the unit was prematurely retired. But the overdose and suicide of Sergeant Worster was never officially acknowledged. Officials answered the reporters’ questions with "No comment."