Fentanyl Overdoses Among Service Members Is ‘Serious Problem,’ Pentagon Says

An entrance to Fort Bragg. Chris Seward/AP

Substance abuse and drug overdose deaths are “serious” problems among U.S. service members, the Pentagon acknowledged this week.

The Pentagon responded to a group of five senators who brought forth concerns about the fentanyl crisis among U.S. service members after Rolling Stone reported “at least 14 and as many as 30 American soldiers had died from overdose deaths” at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in 2020 and 2021. Fort Bragg houses the Airborne and the Special Forces Operation.

In late September 2022, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), along with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the Pentagon requesting five years of in-depth data regarding accidental overdoses in the military (pdf).

The senators pointed to a “persistent and troubling pattern” at Fort Bragg, as well as subsequent reports of overdoses at Fort Bliss in Texas, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.

“In light of this disturbing trend, we write seeking a full understanding of the pattern of overdoses among active-duty service members, and urge you to implement a plan that prevents future overdoses,” Markey wrote to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The overdoses involved “opioids and, more specifically, fentanyl, consumed both intentionally and unintentionally,” the letter continued.

This week, the Pentagon presented the senators with data showing an alarming 15,293 drug overdoses, including 332 deaths, of active-duty service members from all branches between Jan. 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2021 (pdf).

The majority of the deaths, 279, were accidental. Forty-two deaths were ruled as suicide, and 11 were undetermined.

The Department of Defense (DoD) overdose death rate was five per 100,000 in 2020, which the letter stated was below the national rate of 28.3 per 100,000 reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than half of the deaths, 174, involved fentanyl, according to the data.

“Every drug overdose is a preventable loss of life and we must work to do better,” Under Secretary of Defense Gilbert Cisneros wrote in his letter to the senators.

A Deadly Crisis

Fentanyl is an opioid 50–100 times stronger than morphine.

“It is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced,” Anne Milgram, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday during a fentanyl trafficking panel hearing.

The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco (CJNG) Cartel, both in Mexico, are responsible for most of the fentanyl pouring across the border into the United States, Milgram explained.

“Between August of 2021 and August of 2022, 107,735 American lives were lost to drug poisoning,” Milgram said.

Tablets believed to be laced with fentanyl are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Cartels buy the precursor chemicals for the drug from China. Then they mass produce fentanyl powder that is often pressed into fake pills that look like prescription drugs such as Percocet, Oxycodone, Xanax, and others.

The fake pills contain one drug: fentanyl.

“Fentanyl is so addictive that the cartel is using it to drive addiction,” she continued.

Six out of 10 pills contain a deadly dose, according to the DEA.

Other Key Takeaways

The Army had the highest rate of fatal overdoses, with 171 deaths during the five-year period, according to the Pentagon.

Fort Bragg lost 31 soldiers, the highest at any installation, according to the 12-page report.

Overdose deaths in the Air Force, Marines, and Navy totaled 45, 36, and 80, respectively, during the same period.

“The number of OD deaths involving fentanyl has more than doubled over the past five years, reaching a high of 54 cases in 2021,” the Pentagon wrote.

Nearly 10 percent of those who died from overdoses had previously failed drug tests.

North Carolina had 36 per 100,000 active-duty service member deaths, the highest among the states. Washington state was second highest with 29.5 per 100,000, followed by Texas with 28.6.

“The department continues to evaluate, refine, and improve strategies for overdose prevention to ensure we are making every effort to prevent these tragic deaths,” Cisneros wrote to the senators.

“Current efforts are focused on integrating all drug-related data, including fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses, to ensure timely data monitoring and improve coordination, messaging, treatment intervention, and promote readiness at the DoD, installation, and command levels.”