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SOURCETAG 0808210760
PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun
DATE: 2008.08.21
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: 29
BYLINE: SUN MEDIA
DATELINE: MONTREAL
WORD COUNT: 267
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Drug use in military
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A first round of drug-screening tests conducted by the Canadian Armed Forces has netted almost 440 drug users in its ranks.
The Chief of Military Personnel sprung these surprise tests for the first time last December as part of an anti-drug program.
Between the end of 2007 and March 2008, ministry officials performed checks in 11 random navy and army units.
In all, urine tests from 6.5% of the 1,392 navy personnel and five per cent of the soldiers tested positive for controlled substances. Drug use was higher in the age group 27 and under.
The Canadian Forces also discovered that drug use was more common "with master corporals and ranks lower than with senior non-commissioned officers and officers."
"It's not that we're in the middle of a drug problem, but that we're trying to completely eradicate drugs and prevent use in any form," Lt.-Col. Lisa Noonan explained in June to The Maple Leaf magazine.
The Armed Forces note that drug use is two times less common within its ranks than it is in the general population.
"We can readjust our programs and our policies, but the zero tolerance policy, that will not change," Noonan added.
The 7,622 military personnel in high-risk positions, such as the 2,500 personnel from CFB Valcartier who were deployed in Afghanistan, were also tested.
In the end, 269 people, or 3.7% of the total, tested positive or admitted to using drugs.
The third and fifth rotations were also tested. In the first case, drug problems were identified in 4.3% of soldiers.
In the fifth rotation, some of whose members are deployed in Afghanistan, only 1.8% of personnel was red-flagged for drug use.
"If one person's test comes back positive, they are not authorized to participate in their mission. They cannot board the plane and their training is ended on the spot," said Noonan,
Military personnel caught using controlled or illicit substances face possible disciplinary and administrative action.
As a general rule they then come under the authority of the military health system for treatment and rehabilitation.
In total, 10,667 military personnel were subject to this first round of drug tests.
According to a 2002 Statistics Canada study, about 3.1 million people, or 12.6% of the population, said they had used illicit drugs in the previous year.