Fatal overdoses high at these Army posts, overall rate decreasing
By Davis Winkie
Feb 21, 03:13 PM
Though the Army saw a reduction in overall drug overdose death rates in recent years, soldiers at five Army installations are dying of drug overdoses at more than double the rate of other Defense Department personnel.
Responding to a query from a bipartisan group of senators, the letter from Defense Undersecretary Gilbert Cisneros Jr. offered a public understanding of the opioid epidemic’s impact on the military services in recent months. The lawmakers’ query followed a Rolling Stone article that examined drug-related deaths at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Fentanyl deaths among troops more than doubled from 2017 to 2021
Overall overdose deaths also doubled in the Navy and Marine Corps.
By Meghann Myers
The letter analyzed fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses among active-duty troops between 2017 and 2021, finding that fatal overdoses increased from 4.2 deaths per 100,000 troops in 2017 to 5.1 overdose deaths per 100,000 within four years.
Deaths involving fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid driving much of the overdose epidemic nationwide, more than doubled across all services during the period
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/02/21/fatal-overdoses-high-at-these-army-posts-overall-rate-decreasing/
