thedrifter
01-13-07, 01:05 PM
Illicit drug-use stats unavailable
2005 survey says service members smoking less, drinking more
By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 13, 2007 10:16:22 EST
The most recent edition of the Pentagon’s Survey of Health-Related Behaviors cannot conclusively determine how many members of the active-duty force are using illegal drugs, experts said Friday.
It was the first time in the survey’s 25-year history that illicit drug-use statistics were not available.
Representatives from the Defense Department and research company RTI explained that the 2005 survey was changed from previous years to include questions about abuse of prescription drugs, but data indicated that those surveyed may have misinterpreted the question.
When including the prescription drug data, the survey indicates that about 5 percent of all active-duty forces are using illegal drugs. Without the prescription question, the figure falls to around 3 percent, according to Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who said 3 percent was much closer to findings in previous surveys, which did not ask service members about prescriptions.
“It’s a perplexing kind of finding,” said Robert Bray, the survey’s program leader for RTI International, the nonprofit North Carolina-based research company contracted to conduct the survey.
According to a Pentagon press release, 27.6 percent of those surveyed admitted to using illegal drugs in 1980, when mandatory random drug testing in the ranks was just taking hold. That figure plummeted to 3.4 percent by 2002.
Winkenwerder said that forcewide drug testing indicates that the use of marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy are all down even more since 2002.
Bray said that when taking the survey, service members could have thought the question was asking if they have ever actually taken prescription painkillers, not if they had abused them. There also might have been people who did not understand some medical terms used, such as “analgesics,” he said.
Questions about prescription drug abuse will remain a part of future surveys, Bray said, but will be retooled to avoid skewing results again.
More than 16,000 randomly selected service members from all active-duty paygrades took part in the anonymous survey, which was released Jan. 12.
A 2007 release of a 2005 survey may seem like a long lag, but Laurel Hourani, associate project director at RTI, called it “fairly typical for these very large surveys.”
While many simpler surveys are done by mail, RTI personnel deployed to 60 military installations around the globe to administer the 166-question, 32-page survey, which takes about an hour to complete, she said.
“It’s a fairly long and in-depth process,” Hourani said.
And the information is still useful, she said.
“It’s really a good tool for DoD to use to help monitor the health and health behaviors of active-duty personnel. It can be used to help develop health programs and to monitor the effectiveness of existing health programs,” Hourani said.
Though it is the ninth in the series of surveys, the 2005 survey marked several other firsts for the program since it began in 1980 as part of the Defense Lifestyle Assessment Program.
It was the first time the National Guard and reserve were included.
The 2005 survey also was the first in the series to consider mental health and family stress associated with deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters.
“Overall, most military personnel are using positive coping mechanisms in dealing with the stresses of their current wartime environment,” Winkenwerder said.
Those deployed between 2002 and 2005 had higher rates of work and family stress when compared to those who did not deploy, as well as higher rates of heavy alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, the survey found. More of those who had deployed also met the criteria for depression, anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Service members may be smoking a little less, but they are drinking a little more, according to the survey.
Preliminary statistics showed cigarette use has declined since the last survey in 2002, down to 32.2 percent from 33.8 in 2002. “Heavy” smoking — a pack or more a day — also went down, from 13.1 percent in 2002 to 11.1 percent in 2005.
Heavy drinking and chewing tobacco, however, have seen increases since the last survey, a period that coincides with a deepening of the Iraq mission.
In 2002, 18.1 percent of those surveyed reported being heavy drinkers — having five or more drinks in one sitting at least once a week. The 2005 survey puts that number at 18.5 percent.
The percentage of smokeless tobacco users in 2005 was 14.1 percent, up from 12.2 percent in 2002 and the highest level in at least a decade.
“These survey findings provide very useful information for the department to target programs that continue to enhance the physical and mental well-being of our troops,” Winkenwerder said in a press release. “I am pleased, and even a little surprised, that despite the stresses of war and ongoing deployments, nearly all indicators of service members’ health and well-being continue to be quite good compared with civilian populations.
Ellie
2005 survey says service members smoking less, drinking more
By Gayle S. Putrich - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 13, 2007 10:16:22 EST
The most recent edition of the Pentagon’s Survey of Health-Related Behaviors cannot conclusively determine how many members of the active-duty force are using illegal drugs, experts said Friday.
It was the first time in the survey’s 25-year history that illicit drug-use statistics were not available.
Representatives from the Defense Department and research company RTI explained that the 2005 survey was changed from previous years to include questions about abuse of prescription drugs, but data indicated that those surveyed may have misinterpreted the question.
When including the prescription drug data, the survey indicates that about 5 percent of all active-duty forces are using illegal drugs. Without the prescription question, the figure falls to around 3 percent, according to Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who said 3 percent was much closer to findings in previous surveys, which did not ask service members about prescriptions.
“It’s a perplexing kind of finding,” said Robert Bray, the survey’s program leader for RTI International, the nonprofit North Carolina-based research company contracted to conduct the survey.
According to a Pentagon press release, 27.6 percent of those surveyed admitted to using illegal drugs in 1980, when mandatory random drug testing in the ranks was just taking hold. That figure plummeted to 3.4 percent by 2002.
Winkenwerder said that forcewide drug testing indicates that the use of marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy are all down even more since 2002.
Bray said that when taking the survey, service members could have thought the question was asking if they have ever actually taken prescription painkillers, not if they had abused them. There also might have been people who did not understand some medical terms used, such as “analgesics,” he said.
Questions about prescription drug abuse will remain a part of future surveys, Bray said, but will be retooled to avoid skewing results again.
More than 16,000 randomly selected service members from all active-duty paygrades took part in the anonymous survey, which was released Jan. 12.
A 2007 release of a 2005 survey may seem like a long lag, but Laurel Hourani, associate project director at RTI, called it “fairly typical for these very large surveys.”
While many simpler surveys are done by mail, RTI personnel deployed to 60 military installations around the globe to administer the 166-question, 32-page survey, which takes about an hour to complete, she said.
“It’s a fairly long and in-depth process,” Hourani said.
And the information is still useful, she said.
“It’s really a good tool for DoD to use to help monitor the health and health behaviors of active-duty personnel. It can be used to help develop health programs and to monitor the effectiveness of existing health programs,” Hourani said.
Though it is the ninth in the series of surveys, the 2005 survey marked several other firsts for the program since it began in 1980 as part of the Defense Lifestyle Assessment Program.
It was the first time the National Guard and reserve were included.
The 2005 survey also was the first in the series to consider mental health and family stress associated with deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters.
“Overall, most military personnel are using positive coping mechanisms in dealing with the stresses of their current wartime environment,” Winkenwerder said.
Those deployed between 2002 and 2005 had higher rates of work and family stress when compared to those who did not deploy, as well as higher rates of heavy alcohol, cigarette and illegal drug use, the survey found. More of those who had deployed also met the criteria for depression, anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Service members may be smoking a little less, but they are drinking a little more, according to the survey.
Preliminary statistics showed cigarette use has declined since the last survey in 2002, down to 32.2 percent from 33.8 in 2002. “Heavy” smoking — a pack or more a day — also went down, from 13.1 percent in 2002 to 11.1 percent in 2005.
Heavy drinking and chewing tobacco, however, have seen increases since the last survey, a period that coincides with a deepening of the Iraq mission.
In 2002, 18.1 percent of those surveyed reported being heavy drinkers — having five or more drinks in one sitting at least once a week. The 2005 survey puts that number at 18.5 percent.
The percentage of smokeless tobacco users in 2005 was 14.1 percent, up from 12.2 percent in 2002 and the highest level in at least a decade.
“These survey findings provide very useful information for the department to target programs that continue to enhance the physical and mental well-being of our troops,” Winkenwerder said in a press release. “I am pleased, and even a little surprised, that despite the stresses of war and ongoing deployments, nearly all indicators of service members’ health and well-being continue to be quite good compared with civilian populations.
Ellie