The Distrubing Truth

Below is my fifth published letter to the editorDuring the Vietnam War, many soldiers roaming
since June 6th, 2006. The starting date 6-6-06the battlefield for days on end were given the
was well deserved for this disturbing truth. Theamphetamine Ritalin to keep them awake and
futures of more than 300,000 recent and futurealert for battle.
Veterans depend on our government. We haveThis resulted in a medication for our children with
to help these young adults.attention deficit disorder.
Our vets should not be over-medicated,It also provided documented evidence to medical
experimented on.mental health officials that overuse of
Several months ago, "60 Minutes" did a segmentamphetamines can cause the user to be paranoid
entitled "A Pill to Forget?" It was about the oldand delusional.
drug used for high blood pressure calledIt was not enough that past veterans helped
propranolol that they believe can erase memories.create and protect our nation.
The story ended by saying that the military hasIt is time the medical community and drug
provided funding to test this theory on veteranscompanies returned the favor and knowledge
returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan withthey have already received from our veterans.
post traumatic stress disorder.Too many veterans from past wars have already
I can understand a veteran with high bloodended up as just another number in a research
pressure paying a co-payment for theproject.
maintenance medication Propranolol, but not toAs a fine medical entity, which is grossly
test out a theory that might not even work.under-funded and under-staffed, the Department
Since the 1950s, there have been hundreds ofof Veterans Affairs Medical Center itself must
thousands of research projects and study groupsstop over medicating our new young veterans
that have been done involving our veterans.from this global war on terrorism.