Army Limits Painkiller Prescriptions

The Army is limiting how many painkillers a soldier can get at one time. Soliders caught violating the restriction face disciplinary action.

The Associated Press reports the number of soldiers referred for opiate abuse treatment has been growing steadily for at least a decade -- a time when increasing numbers of troops have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat or training injuries that can cause chronic pain. 

Last year, the Army put limits on painkillers by restricting most Schedule II controlled substances, which include narcotics, opiates and amphetamines, to just 30-day prescriptions. In June, the Army followed with a policy that soldiers found using the restricted drugs six months after they were prescribed could be disciplined, too. The force carries out random drug tests among active duty soldiers.

These changes in the Army raise a good question: can other institutions -- say college campuses -- create similar policies to reduce prescription pills abuse?

Col. Carol W. Labadie, the pharmacy consultant and pharmacy program manager for the Army Surgeon General, said it best in her interview with the AP: "In today's society, more prescriptions are getting written and abuse is high across the world, whether it is the military or the civilian side," she said.

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