laura.

so. when i received the news for the army about my son supposedly commits suicide in also or can believe all received a lot of phone calls for the from friend who is a stay in the same bays in the same group and guns. i know who is my son i know hundred percent sure you can never commit suicide but they are mean and yes.

i think hundred percent. in my personal and all the friends family in general you know people real who who is my son he was my son. with in the army they covered up the other thirty four my personal opinion somewhere in kill myself he said to be americans he could have base in bagram afghanistan. on july twelfth two thousand and four army reservist john torre's was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head his body was discovered in a latrine at bagger merrifield in afghanistan where he'd been deployed for nearly

a year twenty five years old and an eight year veteran of the army reserves john called his mother and girlfriend on saturday july tenth to tell them is unit replacement arrived and that he would be home in two weeks three days later his mother was notified of his death the military provided little information about john's death in the days leading up to his funeral his parents only learned his death was to be classified a suicide by reaching out to soldiers from his reserve unit. where we kept finding out trying to find out what soldiers just came back or are coming back or who came back early from his from his. platoon i guess yeah and i got a number through elizabeth who was another woman latina woman i can't remember her name but she had

a husband also in the military and she was saying oh i just found out that john died from my husband and she's the one who ultimately told me that that. her husband. in office was we tell you this but she was very afraid that he's not supposed to even told her this promotion but that he killed himself oh i heard one of the first. i think one thing happening now i heard was there was an injury to the head only releases and nobody knows anything more we can't say anything more than we don't know there was a conscious. thing nobody knew what it was. and then after that you know. he did it and then i got a call from the idea that there are some people some questions if i said anything or written a letter then they asked me a bunch questions about it and if we didn't find that was pretty much. members of john's unit were told they committed suicide after receiving

a dear john letter from elizabeth it was alleged that the letter had been found with his body. to me personally hand over. but i do know one thing was i wouldn't ever for you know for him or anything with half a dozen our rights are a lot of us i don't want anyone to think that i would ever do that rumors continued to reach the family from soldiers returning from afghanistan in the weeks following john's funeral talk of a dear john letter gave way to speculation that he may have been killed for speaking out about her when you said bag. john had told his father months before that heroin was everywhere on base and the two members of his unit had been sent home for using the drug while the ploy after his death the family learned he was openly critical of the army's lack of response to the heroin issue bolstering john's accusations was an article by investigative journalist seymour hersh in april of two thousand and four reported that retired military and cia officials had

told them there were increasing reports of heroin use by american military personnel in afghanistan with the use being highest among the reserve units according to one of her shoes sources pentagon leadership was taking a head in the sand approach to the issue and had no desire to expose the problem or get law enforcement involved. probably one of those most almost it was already done us no one is. as weeks turned to months with no answers forthcoming from the military john's father took every opportunity to protest the son's death becoming a regular at anti-war demonstrations throughout the country. so you want to talk about iraq yes and i got me started so if i harness all these i till he's going can mean many tell you. this terrible here is a lot of drugs not a problem. inside the base.

after the fall of the taliban there was an explosion in poppy cultivation throughout the country poppy plants produce a latex is a source of opium which is used to produce heroin in afghanistan currently produces ninety percent of the world's heroin with poppy cultivation in the drug production accounting for over fifty percent of the country's g.d.p. afghan heroin unlike the black tar variety produced elsewhere in the world is a powder and can be smoked in snorted as well as injected.

you know just outside bagger merrifield main gate is the backroom bazaar a series of dilapidated shops known by locals as the place to go to find american goods good stolen from base are treated the locals by soldiers looking for liquor drugs and other contraband. sometimes. when they want to buy something for example if they want to buy. some things if there is. exist inside the base so they can mouth off the base and five from these shops or they give many for those afghans who inside for them and tell them to bring that stuff inside the base for them so. i spent significant time in and around the shops over several trips to afghanistan on one trip in april of two thousand and seven i contacted the bases public affairs officer and asked for comment on the issue of heroin at baghran i was told there was nothing to comment

on as the base did not have a drug problem after i mentioned that i'd spent the previous week in the bazaar outside the bases main gate i was provided with a written statement. our military police received very few reports of alcohol or drug issues here we expect that with a large mixed population composed of u.s. military forces civilian contractors department of defense civilians coalition military forces and afghan workers here on bagger him every day that we would find a small amount of alcohol or drugs because of rigorous search procedures at our gates attempts to bring any contraband items through the gates are largely unsuccessful since january we have had about twenty attempts to bring illegal drugs through the gate at baghran mayor field all committed by either local national or third country national truck drivers. when we intercept these individuals they are investigated and banned from entering back room again personnel leaving bag room

are also subject to search. when they give money for an afghan friend to bring them here in so the afghan would buy from somewhere the heroin and then waiting in front of the good for him and he's coming out of the gate getting that hearing by himself because if the afghan caught with elaine it's of a crime and he would she would face you know. fish and with it. it makes. sense. he said before this because the soldiers are changing time by time so there were some group of soldiers before that they were using a lot these did they hear. these things. in the end john's claims of heroin use on base were true but no point between the drug and his death could be found so the family continued on with their investigation.

i suspect actually but. are you one father here. three times whipped up by i guess. in march of two thousand and five john's mother susanna received a call from special agent steve hudson special agent hudson was an investigator from the army's criminal investigation division also known as the c. id. your daughter or somebody claiming to be your daughter. posted something to. the internet this says that she was murdered because of illegal drugs by officers lol that's what we hear too so there's a lot of stuff we hear and i know for sure he they don't he was insolvent like i know about for sure so i know there's something else and that's why we won the fine

now yeah. well based on. what i found you know your i don't know that was a job so what post i'm not sure because he never talked to me about that because he's a mom you worry too much so he never told me understand that. i don't know it all who he could talk to i didn't know that was new for me. well i would be interested if your daughter has information i mean i would love to look into that but what we do ok. and if if you can tell me who said that i'd be more than happy to look at who is ok yeah we have all the names to let us say to our son you talk to this first of this lawyer to see if i'm going to be able to give names while. at this point you know i don't care who gets in trouble me who knows me in trouble and unless we're doing something well by they're so scary i mean the so just looked up to me first wish they want seen and then they're scared about you know.

what they are i guess i should ask what have you been told. i just want to know what happened what happened to my song because they're telling me without being played and i'm not on the table i mean there's no way yeah so no way. did he tell you what kind of medication he was taking if any. medication was he was taken doesn't for his phone lock the phone talk some sort of that break. anything else. to tell you about. very medication he was taking. was now our family member call me that he didn't tell me anything and i'm back. at a place here about bad luck and keep. him. company my coach and i don't know what the you know i don't want it i don't want to guess but i have a pretty good idea where it was he was taking ok. the.

film and i bought it i want to back the anti-malaria drug referred to by agent hudson as mefloquine mefloquine was developed by the us army and is distributed by roche pharmaceuticals under the brand name lariam lariam was the focus of intense media scrutiny in two thousand and two after three soldiers from fort bragg killed their wives and ultimately committed suicide after returning from afghanistan all three were reported to have taken lariam while deployed in two thousand and three there was also reports of an increase in suicide among troops taking their eamonn iraq. part of every military mission is giving the troops the protection they need including medicines to prevent disease including malaria which kills at least seven hundred thousand people around the world each year thousands of u.s. troops in iraq received one of these drugs a drug called lariam and it may have prevented many soldiers from getting sick the

question tonight is whether or not soldiers were adequately warned about its rare side effects serious life changing side effects in collaboration with u.p.i. investigative reporter mark benjamin cnn's investigative unit has been working on this story. first got a log on the lariam issue in two thousand and two working with my partner dan almost at the wire service u.p.i. and dan had some friends who had taken lariam and had incredibly horrible reactions to the drug use in nations suicidal thoughts and tendencies. including one person who never really recovered who has problems to this day and we'd never seen anything like that in reaction to a drug that ended up starting just our curiosity. started two years of work.

then in two thousand and two dan and i obtained about fifteen hundred pages of documents internal safety documents from roche pharmaceuticals who sponsor tickles the company that manufactures lariam these internal safety documents showed the company quietly tracking reports of suicidal behavior among people who were taking the drug really really frightening stuff violent stuff. and that company was clearly quietly paying very close attention to people who were taking this drug and then inexplicably hurting themselves or other people and that's when we knew we were really on to something. in two thousand and two the f.d.a. required roche to revise their packaging insert for lariam the new revised label warned methyl could may cause psychiatric symptoms in a number of patients ranging from exile paranoia and depression to hallucinations and psychotic behavior it also warned that on occasions these symptoms have been

reported to continue long after mefloquine has been stopped rare cases of suicidal ideation and suicide have been reported the no relationship to drug administration has been confirmed. but then roche says. some patients taking lariam think about killing themselves. so this is not a statement that some patients taking lariam have been reported to think about killing themselves or it's hypothesized that lariam may cause a patient to think about killing themselves roche is saying and this course has to be approved by the f.d.a. . before this is allowed to be distributed by roche. some patients taking lariam think about killing themselves so this is a statement by roche that patients can a suicidal thought on lariam it doesn't but they then go on to say and there have been reports of suicide. it is not known whether lariam were responsible for these

suicides well that's where i take. a difference with roche now i think that it's a disingenuous statement because it's really quite clear from a number of sources that lariam. can cause suicidal thoughts and suicides in february of two thousand and four then army surgeon general james peake testified before a house armed services subcommittee that no link had been found between lariam an army suicides john would be found dead less than four months later. i know. fifteen months after john's funeral the family finally received a copy of the army's investigation into his death the report was over five hundred pages long and contained

a copy of the alleged suicide note. dear mom i'm sorry that i had to do this i've been in so much pain in the past year that i can't take it anymore the stomach and chest pains have been getting worse and no doctors been able to help me the doctors here refused to help me. please know that i'll finally be at peace and with no more pain i wish i could have had a life with elizabeth always pictured her being my wife and mother to my kids i love you all. the letter concludes see you all in heaven when your time comes i'm going to meet jesus christ. for the family the suicide note was proof the army was lying there were certain that john had not written the note that he did not sound like him or look like his writing they also question why john would have killed himself over stomach and chest pain when he was said to return to houston in only a few weeks john was a successful accountant in civilian life and had good health insurance and substantial savings he could have sought out the best medical treatment available

once home. also missing from the sea id report provided to the family was an explanation of what may have been causing john's stomach in chest pain and how this pain could have led to such a drastic response like suicide the only reference to what may have triggered his actions is found on page four sixty eight. about ten hundred twenty three juneau five the undersigned obtained in reviewed a mental health evaluation pertaining to specialist torres which was conducted by major psychologist two fifty fourth medical detachment camp lacey bagger merrifield a review of the documents showed major police specialist or sufferings id an unresolved sematic pain which contributed to specialist tours committing suicide see mental health evaluation twenty three juno five for further details. the mental health evaluation was missing from the copy of the c.i.

the report provided to the family and there was no further explanation of what john was actually suffering from. the speech and yes i do but practice. what i am feyerick efficient at what have you been told can i just want to know what happened what happened to my family because. they're telling me what help they flip and i'm not ok but i mean there's no way yeah no way . did he tell you what kind of medication he would take if going to my medication right you have taken as if i can stomach close contact until i am right so who do you think i. know it so you were very medication he was taking. was now our power call me tonight he didn't tell me anything of that today but i hear about that i'm not come here. to pick. up at my

culture and i don't know what the you know i don't want it i don't want to guess but i have a pretty good idea where it was he was taking ok. very. film and i've got out of there are a lot of back. despite special agent hudson's interest in what the family knew about the anti-malaria drug john was taking lariam was only mentioned once in the report provided to the family and a statement to investigators jones' first lieutenant indicated everyone in the platoon was taking an anti-malaria pill once a week which he thought was lariam thank you you mentioned they're required to take it they are they're ordered to take it in the beginning you would have times where friends on every monday soldiers with that formation would be required to take it so literally disorders would line up at formation the platoon sergeant would hand out the lariam pills and everybody information was after petey would take the pill

use a canteen and they would document everyone took the pill so it was required it wasn't something you had an option not to do. as a result there is no recourse and they would describe sometimes when they would take these pills like on mondays they would describe it as manic mondays and so they all knew there was reactions to it they all had the experience seeing some people experienced it less than others and others and some people had a very terrible reaction to it we're having a problem with lariam and it happens differently for different people the biggest problem for most people happened right around the third pill if you're going have a problem you'll often have a right around the third pill don't ask me why that just happens to be for certain people that i've interviewed where the real problems show up. you know you're really having a lariam problem when two things happen at the same time you have psychological side effects which can be extreme depression. nations panic attacks and then those come come along with

a constellation of physical symptoms that also exhibit themselves at same time so you've got the panic attacks these hallucinations suicidal tendencies you get a rash you'll have stomach problems you'll have some people complain of chest pain all these things happen all the same time when you have this physical reaction and this mental reaction happening at the exact same time to somebody who previously been perfectly healthy and it all happened right around the third pill something's going on. for the first year and even after the first year your refused to give you answers was it this refusal to give you or really made you think they were coming up with murder. you know many many times saw them in a train never give. up into a cell and so on the third year you know would offer any information on this is the the reason personally. taken my flight to afghanistan in the

beriberi dangerous area. looking for the investigation a person investigation of what happened to my baby. get to know. what happened to you the.

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