Vulnerable Vets

I will quote myself:

Now we have another vast, underserved, and traumatized population- returning veterans- who will be desperate for treatment, who will not receive the services, training, and economic support that greatly lessens the strain of emotional distress, and who will instead be treated as damaged brains and be subject to a largely unsupervised drug regimen.

And now a link to ABC News:

The investigation revealed that the VA waited three months to notify veterans in a VA experiment of the possible side effects from the anti-smoking drug Chantix.

All of the veterans enrolled in the Chantix study suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and had been recruited, with monthly $30 payments, for a behavioral study with the drug.

I plan to keep on top of this for several reasons: One, it illustrates the passivity of governmental regulators vis-a-vis the psychopharm industry. Two, it shows how vulnerable certain populations are to very minor incentives- in this case 30 lousy bucks a month.

And three, veterans' rights are an excellent platform for advocating against off-label uses of various psychotropic drugs as this is easy copy for journalists and the topic interests the political left, right, and center.

I can't emphasize enough the history behind this. The big drug companies have always targeted vulnerable populations. Hopefully, this group is too high profile for this to happen.

One More Day Off!

Blogging will recommence with vigor on Monday. Look for some action over the weekend.

Pigeons

At home we keep two pigeons- indian fantails named Serena and Houdini. A couple of weeks ago a weasel or something like it got into the coop and slaughtered the six we kept before. Decapitated, hearts torn out. Sunday morning, I came out, and no cooing, no thrumming. My oldest wailed in sadness when he came out to see me; I awoke my youngest with the news. So sad. Two of the pairs had chicks, one had eggs. One egg survived. It was horrible. I grieved to walk from the car and hear nothing at all, just seeing that empty coop, that avian murder scene.
But these two little sweeties hooked up nicely, and never leave each other's side. They nuzzle and do such romantic pigeon things that only a thoroughly sour heart could remain unmoved.

Now this.

Pigeons can, among other things, distinguish between Chagall and Picasso. I would call it vindicated, but I am feeling something. I am stirred.

Posting Slowdown for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

This is still a one-writer blog- hopefully that will change soon. But for the next few days I will be catching up on other matters, and will return to posting several times a day, five days a week on Thursday, June 19th. Please check back for daily post. Thanks for reading.