(h/t to HuffPo),
Via ABC News(and the frackin Washington fergawdsake Times!) we find out, to no real surprise, that:
Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects.
And the article focuses one one lab rat veteran, former Army Sniper James Elliot.
::more over the fold::
Like many military, Elliot was a smoker.
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.
Elliot's breakdown would take on a potentially life threatening form.
On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun.
...
"He was operating as if he was back in theater, in combat theater," [Elliot's wife] 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.
Thankfully, Elliot was safe and sound. But it was far from over at that point.
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.
Seriously? 'Attempted and completed suicide'? I think that goes a little beyond the scope of the phrase: side effect. In that situation, quitting smoking would be the damned side effect of offing yourself. And I like that they included the word 'completed'; one assumes to prevent the grieving family of the late non-smoker from getting inappropriately litigious.
Well, surely now that the situation has seen light of day in the media, the situation will be remedied.... right?... hello?... {crickets}
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."