Ill vets recruited to test drug linked to violence, suicide

[Jeff]

'Disposable Heroes': Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs

An ABC News and Washington Times Investigation Reveals Vets Are Being Recruited for Government Tests on Drugs with Violent Side Effects

By BRIAN ROSS and VIC WALTER
June 17, 2008

Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times has found.

The report will air on Good Morning America and will also appear in The Washington Times on Tuesday. (click here to read "The Washington Times" coverage of "Disposable Heroes")

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.

Elliott, 38, of suburban Washington, D.C., was recruited, at $30 a month, for the Chantix anti-smoking study three years after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq from 2003-2004.

Months after he began taking the drug, Elliott suffered a mental breakdown, experiencing a relapse of Iraq combat nightmares he blames on Chantix.

"They never told me that I was going to be suicidal, that I would cease sleeping. They never told me anything except this will help me quit smoking," Elliott told ABC News and The Washington Times.

On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun.

His fiancee, Tammy, called police and warned, "He's extremely unstable. He has PTSD."

"Do you think that he is going to shoot or attack the police?" the 911 dispatcher asked.

"I can't be certain. I don't know," she said. (click here to hear part of Tammy's 911 call)

"He was operating as if he was back in theater, in combat theater," she told ABC News. "And of course, a soldier goes nowhere without a gun."

When police arrived, they found Elliott in the street, with the gun in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

"Are you going to shoot me? Shoot me," Elliott said, according to the police report.

Police used a Taser gun to stun Elliott and placed him under arrest.

It wasn't until three weeks later that the Veterans Administration advised the veterans in the Chantix study that the drug may cause serious side effects, including "anxiety, nervousness, tension, depression, thoughts of suicide, and attempted and completed suicide."

The VA's letter to the veterans, on February 29, 2008, followed three warnings from the FDA and Chantix' maker Pfizer, that were issued on November 20, 2007, January 18, 2008 and February 1, 2008. (click here to read the FDA warning and click here to read Pfizer's statement on Chantix)

"How this study continued in the face of these difficulties is almost impossible to understand," said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Doctors at the Veterans Administration say they acted as quickly as they could.

"This didn't justify an emergency warning at that level," said Dr. Miles McFall, co-administrator of the VA study.

Dr. McFall said there is no proof that Elliott's breakdown was caused by Chantix and he sees no reason to discontinue the study. Some 140 veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder continue to receive Chantix as part of a smoking cessation study.

Dr. McFall says the VA decided to continue the Chantix study because "it would be depriving our veterans of an effective method of treatment to help them stop smoking."

Caplan, one of the country's leading medical ethicists, said he was stunned by the VA's decision to continue the Chantix experiment.

"Why take the group most a risk and keep them going? That doesn't make any sense, once you know the risk is there," he said.

Chantix is one of the drugs being used in an estimated 25 clinical studies using veterans by the VA.

Pfizer maintains that "the benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks" and that it continues to do further studies on the drug.

The FAA has prohibited commercial airline pilots from using Chantix because of its possible side effects.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5180437&page=1

[professorpan]

Soldiers are often given Lariam, a drug used to prevent malaria. I took it when I traveled to Costa Rica many years ago, and I experienced a profoundly terrifying episode.

I was asleep, and became lucid in my dreams. Normally, that is something I would welcome. But I was assaulted by a steady, non-stop barrage of nightmarish scenes -- a young boy getting smashed by a car, a man with a knife jumping out from behind a door, a dog being disemboweled, and so forth. I was asleep and dreaming, but completely lucid, and I couldn't stop the hyper-realistic horrors happening right in front of me. It kept happening -- one horrific scene after another, and it seemed like it would never end.

Finally, I managed to wake up, and it took me hours to feel normal again. It was so much worse than any nightmare I've ever had.

Afterward, I found out a friend -- a documentary filmmaker -- had experienced severe psychological side effects while he was traveling in Africa and taking the drug.

More here:

http://www.lariaminfo.org/

[teamdaemon]

This doesn't surprise me at all. I'll bet they are using soldiers because they can blame the side effects on their pre-existing insanity and/or trauma. "Neuropsychiatric behavior" is a term I have never heard before. Does that mean this drug caused the test subjects to prescribe poisonous and counterproductive drugs to the general public?

[compared2what?]

I don't see where the term "neuropsychiatric behavior" is used.

But it's a standard phrase meaning: "Behavior potentially symptomatic of a neurological condition that has a deleterious impact on mental and emotional functioning."

For example, Alzheimer's is a condition the symptoms of which are usually first noticeable in the form of neuropsychiatric behavior.

[teamdaemon]

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

I knew what they meant, I just wanted to point out that the word doesn't really make sense when they are meaning "psychotic behavior".

[compared2what?]

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

I knew what they meant, I just wanted to point out that the word doesn't really make sense when they are meaning "psychotic behavior".

My eye skipped right over that three times, which I think kind of proves your point. I agree that it's bad writing at best. And I have a very difficult time regarding it even as that.

In fact, I'd say it's being used as a euphemism, designed to help accountable forces evade accountability. Including legal liability, potentially. That's reprehensible.

So right on, TD.

As long as I'm in the neighborhood: Your post prompted part of my response to a thread in the lounge on another topic, linked HERE, if you're interested. Though you're not obliged to be interested, obviously.

c2w

[MinM]

This doesn't surprise me at all. I'll bet they are using soldiers because they can blame the side effects on their pre-existing insanity and/or trauma. "Neuropsychiatric behavior" is a term I have never heard before. Does that mean this drug caused the test subjects to prescribe poisonous and counterproductive drugs to the general public?

Interesting use of the Neuropsychiatric Institute for this piece:

Downturn Spurs 'Survival Panic' for Some in the US

A paralegal, recently laid off, wanted to get back at the "establishment" that he felt was to blame for his lost job. So when he craved an expensive new tie, he went out and stole one.

The story, relayed by psychiatrist Timothy Fong at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, is an example of the rash behaviors exhibited by more Americans as a recession undermines a lifestyle built on spending.

In the coming months, mental health experts expect a rise in theft, depression, drug use, anxiety and even violence as consumers confront a harsh new reality and must live within diminished means...

Depression Trigger

Beth Rosenberg, a New York freelance educator and self-professed bargain hunter, said she stopped shopping for herself after her husband lost his publishing job in June.

She is now buying her son toys from the popular movie Madagascar for $2 at McDonald's, and is wearing clothes that have hung untouched in her closet for years...

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 killed thousands and shuttered U.S. financial markets, consumers were encouraged by politicians and business leaders to spend as a way of saving the economy and proving capitalism could not be crushed.

"We're getting these messages that it is, in effect, patriotic to spend money," said Stuart Vyse, a psychology professor and author of "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On To Their Money." The United States is deeply dependent on such spending, with consumption generating two-thirds of economic activity.

But problems arise when consumers become dependent on buying goods and services to cope with their emotions, Vaccaro said.

"We have difficulty handling our internal emotional state in other ways when we can't do that," he said, prompting some to seek out immediate gratification through drugs or alcohol.

Violent Behavior

Besides an increase in shoplifting, psychologists said retailers need to be prepared for more instances of violent behavior like that seen at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York the day after Thanksgiving.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we see an uptick in crime, related to stealing," said UCLA's Fong. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see more workplace violence and more violence at the malls."...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/28249915