Soldier's Disease
From Drug Rehab Wiki
Soldier’s Disease was a term first applied to the soldiers returning home from the U.S. Civil War with addictions. It is thought that the widespread use of morphine and opium to treat injuries and maladies during the war accounted for the phenomenon at that time. Later wars such as World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War led to further discussion of Soldier’s Disease (also known as Army Disease) as veterans returned home from war with substance problems.
Causes
War related addictions during the Civil War appear to have been largely attributed to the medical use of addictive substances to treat injury and illness. In later wars, addictive substances were also used by soldiers to manage stress and to compensate for physical fatigue. After the Civil War, Soldier’s Disease has been described as the wartime use of addictive substances to cope with the stressors of war. Whether for medical necessity or for emotional and psychological coping, use of addictive substances in combat resulted in addictions that continued when soldiers returned home.
The Civil War
The American Civil War took place from 1861-1865. Estimates of causalities ranged from 600,000-700,000. The wounded during the Civil War were estimated at over 1,000,000, but disease is reported as having incurred more causalities than battle related wounds.
Conditions were unsanitary in the soldier camps and soldiers were exposed to crowded camp conditions poor sanitation and malnutrition. They had inadequate clothing and little shelter. Malaria, dysentery, measles, smallpox, pneumonia and other infections were widespread problems.
During the Civil War period, medical knowledge and available medical supplies were limited and primitive by today’s standards. There was very little understanding of the need for sanitation in the control and treatment of infection. Medical personnel in the field were equipped with very few procedures and very few medications to treat disease and injury. Amputation to treat injury became common. Opium and morphine were available and widely used to treat both injury, surgery related pain and disease.
At the close of the Civil War, the Secretary of War stated that approximately 10,000,000 opium pills, almost 3,000,000 ounces of opiate preparations such as laudanum and paregoric and approximately 30,000 ounces of morphine sulfate had been issued by the Union Army.
“The Curse”
On December 4, 1914, Jeannette Marks, a member of The National Woman's Party, a feminist organization, read her work, The Curse of Narcotism in America -- a Reveille, before the general session of the American Public Health Association in Jacksonville, Florida. Her work is cited as a landmark in the discussion of war related addiction. As a social activist, writer, lecturer and educator, Ms. Marks addressed the historical widespread use of addictive substances during the Civil War and the continuing availability of patent medications containing addictive substances in 1914. The addictive ingredients contained in medications available in 1914 were cited as:
• morphine diacetyl
• morphia sulfate
• morphine acetate
• codeine
• heroin
• alcohol
• cocaine
Ms. Marks estimated that approximately 4,000,000 people in the United States were at that time addicted to opium and cocaine. She also stated that the widespread use of addictive substances during the Civil War had touched every family in the United States. Ms. Marks cautioned that World War I would give rise to an even greater addiction epidemic. Addictive Substances and Other Wars
During World War I, alcohol was commonly used by soldiers in the field. British and German soldiers, for example, were given daily rations of alcohol.
During World War II, German soldiers were given amphetamine tablets to combat fatigue and increase alertness. American soldiers commonly used alcohol and tobacco.
While not reported as having been issued by the military, marijuana, opium, morphine, heroin and barbiturates were easily acquired by soldiers in Vietnam and many returned home requiring treatment for substance disorders.
In the wars in the Middle East, American soldiers reported widespread use of prescription sleeping pills and tranquilizers to cope with the conditions of combat.
