Veteran

Yesterday morning I received a call from a man in his late 30's on the east coast.
He was looking for help with a crack addiction. He had been arrested and was court ordered to drug rehab.
He was a veteran, he had a brain injury and a back injury.
He had come to me for help because the VA could offer him no more assistance.

There is a perfect place on the West Coast to send this man. He would be off his drugs and his medications,
he would be helped with his chronic pain, and treated with the respect and dignity he deserves as a veteran.
The catch - it costs money.

There is no funding available to him. With $33.2 billion in the kitty for Veteran's Affairs there is no funding
to help him. The US military budget is $1 trillion with everything put together (source is wikipedia). The
largest asset the military has is their people. After they have done their time for the nation such large numbers
of them need some help . . . and not in meds that are causing the huge numbers of suicides we are seeing.

It angers me that I couldn't offer this to this man. Homeless and forgotten. I did help him find some resources
nearby. I hope he gets into one of them and does well. . .

Good News for Veterans!

I mentioned in my last blog there was some help on the horizon for veterans with drug and alcohol addictions and I am pleased to announce it is now here. Not only is it here it is very simple for all of us to participate.

Go to this address http://www.active.com/donate/circleoflife read the short article and participate if you can, let friends know about the program and get them to also visit the address and participate if they would like to and tell their friends.

We are looking for a ripple effect here to help those who deserve our respect and need our help.

Veterans Need Help

In 1994 a staggering 271,000 US veterans were homeless. as reported inthe National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients.

In 1996 it was reported that one out of every three homeless were
veterans was another statistic.

In 2005 40% of homeless people were veterans. That is a significant
increase.

In November 2007 , 120 veteran suicides a week were reported on national television.

And another alarming statistic, approximately 3 out of 4 homeless persons have addiction or mental health issues.

The US Census reports 23 million vets currently on the ledger.

Other statistics are widely reported about the connection between
pharmaceutical product and suicides.

What do all these figures mean? Based on these figures, simply put,
there are thousands upon thousands of drug addicted veterans in the US. whether or not they are homeless.

And the problem is getting bigger, not smaller.

Obviously these men and women needs some real help to get them
back into life back home.

The exciting news about this is there is a light of hope in the very near future. There is a plan to get actual real rehab help for veterans in America and as it unfolds I will keep you informed. It looks like most people are going to be able to contribute to it.