UW researcher aims to crack military drug use

Getting someone to recognize that they have a substance abuse problem can be very difficult. It can be even more so for military members, many of whom consider issues with abuse as a sign of weakness.

But a University of Washington researcher has spent the last three years creating a program she hopes will make service members feel more comfortable seeking help.

Many soldiers, just like people in the general population, don’t think they have a problem with alcohol, drugs or prescription medicine. They believe they can handle it. They don’t believe they need help.

In the military, there’s another reason to blow off potential abuse; seeking treatment immediately goes up the chain of command and many service members worry it will hurt their career.

Dr. Denise Walker at the University of Washington created the Warrior Check-Up to give service members an anonymous way to share their concerns of potential abuse.

Dr. Walker blanketed Joint Base Lewis-McChord with fliers looking for potential candidates. UW took hundreds of calls from service members and some concerned family members and came up with 242 JBLM soldiers to participate in this study. They get one anonymous phone session with a counselor to talk about why they don’t think their drinking or drug use is a problem and if they would consider treatment.

Dr. Walker wants to know if this phone intervention, as she calls it, will change their attitudes. “Self change or treatment seeking even informal treatment seeking like a self-help group like N.A. or A.A., all of those would be seen as positive outcomes,” she said.

Dr. Walker is hoping the anonymous nature of this outreach will be attractive to service members. “This summer we’ll evaluate if the intervention itself prompts reductions in use, or increases in treatment attendance, treatment seeking, or engagement,” she said.

If the data shows success, Dr. Walker said she wants to push this program military wide. “If you have an intervention that’s delivered over the phone, those counselors can be accessed by anyone in the world,” she said.

During her recruiting efforts, Dr. Walker found that a third of respondents admitted they had used illegal drugs in the last 90 days. One of the more popular drugs of choice at JBLM is synthetic marijuana, drugs like Spice.

She said soldiers admitted to using it because it can rarely be picked up by drug tests.