Drug use/drug testing in the CF (merged)

[Jarnhamar]

*However, I do agree what a guy does in the privacy of his own home, or while he is on leave or off base is his own choice, and he will have to live with whatever happens to him if he gets caught.*

I agree, if your own your own time then knock yourself out but if you get caught don‘t whine about it.

What embarasses me is the constant bickering between the forces.
Regforce does this, reserves do that. Infantry does this, armored does that. Zero brotherhood.

 

[Jungle]

Originally posted by Slacker:
[qb]
There are more important issues that should be adressed. Pot leads to Munchies, alcohol leads to negligent actions or violence, sooner or later. [/qb]

Yeah right... Nobody ever did anything stupid after smoking pot...

 

[Roger]

I don't want to be dragged into this, and I certainly do not justify or say alcohol is proper or good either. And the Forces do look at alcohol as a drug and when you go on courses now many are alcohol free. But alcohol is legal pot is not. End of discussion, enough said.

If it was legal and the Forces would not let you smoke pot then they would be wrong, we are in the Canadian Armed Forces and we represent that as well as Canada, hence we should not do anything legal, does not mean we should help make it legal but its not.

Our haircuts have nothing to do with it, or stupid civy sayings like cool man.

 

[GerryCan]

Slacker I totally agree with your post other than the fact that you would ‘sell anyone out‘ if you knew they were at work stoned. Do you mean out in the field stoned or back in the Z Lines fried watching his locker? In either case, I would assume an ***-kicking for being a rat, just wanted to know the definition of going to work stoned to you.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Some people may not see anything wrong with it, as harmless as it is, but I personally don‘t have much confidence or faith in someone who spends their time getting stoned watching a locker or sitting on a couch all day playing video games and stuffing their face. Just a matter of personal preference i supose though.

 

[Slacker]

Trap, you obviosly didn‘t get the point. what I was saying is those Army guys out on the town, getting drunk and acting like *******s reek of Army. It‘s shameful actually. They make us look bad. Fact. You can spot an Army guy a mile away and so can Civies. If you don‘t think so, come play spot the Army dink at Wallmart with me some time. Man, I can tell you what unit these guys are in.

It looks bad but it‘s socially acceptable amoung us because we all want to be the guy who tells the "I got so wasted" story on Monday. Bragging about whatever drunk hog we dragged back and did whatever with. You go to a shack party once, sober, and you leave embarrased to even be associated with these loosers, who are usually the most solid guys you have ever know when they aren‘t drunk beyond their capacity.

Gerrycan. My definiton of coming to work stoned covers any place. Z lines, field, sports day, whatever. I would talk to them and tell them they were taking a risk they shouldn‘t take and send them home. The next time they are going down. call me a rat if you want but coming to work stoned is like coming to work drunk. That kid fries himself (Electricity is not your friend) or hits someone with a Bison, and it‘s my *** as much as his if I let him away with it.

Come 4pm blow it in my face all you want. I could care less. Do you really need to get stoned to go to work? I know it‘s boring at times but if you cant wait till after work, you have a problem.

 

[portcullisguy]

They could legalize marihuana tomorrow, that doesn‘t mean the CF will change their policy and allow it.

"Rules" are not the same as "laws".

As a 28-year-old, I figured I would have no problem snagging a beer or two on course all summer last year at Meaford. However, my course was a dry one, and the fact that I was "of age" didn‘t matter. No candidates were permitted off the tent lines until we had freedom of the base, and even then, the mess was not always permitted. It sucked, but oh well. I didn‘t join the army expecting there to be no rules.

Perhaps my years of enforcing laws is jading me, but I have less and less respect for dopers.

The more of them the meet, the more I‘m glad I‘m not like them. I‘ve met violent people who smoke dope -- mainly between their fixes of other kinds of drugs. When they‘re stoned, they‘re not so bad, but when they come down, or they‘re stressing about other things, they‘re down right nasty. Generalization? Sure. All of them like that? Probably not. But I‘ve met some who were.

I have no desire to associate myself with these people.

This summer, several members of my section tent would spend their weekends in nearby Wasaga Beach, smoking bud, drinking their face off, etc. I recognize they needed a stress relief, and I also recognize that they are mostly the young and stupid. They are not considering the consequences of their behaviour. Some will learn, some will not. I often wonder if those individuals are still in the army right now. I am guessing they have less than a year before they figure out that their views and the CF‘s views are miles apart.

Would I rat them out? I didn‘t. Did I talk to them about it? Yes. I cautioned them that they are taking serious risks which may affect their CF careers, and their futures. But the fact is if their values are that incongruent with the CF‘s, they don‘t belong in it. If that means one day I would have to report them, then I hope that day doesn‘t come, because I think I‘ll do the right thing.

 

[Spr.Earl]

Civie Life O.K.
In the Force‘s NO!!!!

Up to you who are asking!

If I catch you,your going to Club Ed.!!!!
If not I‘ll make your life so misrable you wish you were in Club Ed or you get out!!!

The old day‘s are gone Kiddies!!!
We are a Force that is active 24 and 7 now not like 15yrs ago when it was all Garrison and the odd F.X.

Dope does not belong.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Northern Touch]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1075830996945_41/?hub=CTVNewsAt11

CTV.ca News Staff

Military police are awaiting the results of urine tests conducted yesterday on soldiers at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier.

About 30 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment were asked to give urine samples following a raid at the base near Quebec City on Monday, Canadian Forces spokesman Major Marc Theriault said.

Military police, aided by drug-sniffing dogs, raided the base for several hours yesterday. They were looking for evidence of possible drug use by soldiers bound for Afghanistan.

Theriault initially said nothing was found, but spokesman Capt. Mark Giles says searches carried out on about 10 lockers and offices yielded a small amount of drugs.

"There was a small amount of drugs seized, very small, and those were sent off for analysis,‘‘ Giles told CP.

It‘s not clear what kind of drugs were involved.

The soldiers from the Royal 22nd Regiment are due to leave for Kabul on Friday to join an earlier Valcartier contingent already deployed.

Theriault said some of the soldiers who were searched may not be allowed to leave, depending on the results of the urine tests.

Theriault said authorities had information "that these people might have certain habits that are not allowed in the Canadian Forces." He said the police were acting on a tip they received a couple of weeks ago, but would not say where the information came from.

Theriault said the danger of the mission in Afghanistan made the action necessary.

"Afghanistan as we all know is not an easy mission. It requires everybody to be totally focused on the mission and there‘s absolutely no room for drug distraction. Everybody needs to be alert and this is to protect the safety of our people in Afghanistan.‘‘

Forces in the area have come under increasing attacks lately and one Canadian was killed in a suicide bomb attack last week.

Results of the drug tests are expected later this week.

Theriault said any soldiers who test positive for illicit drugs could face penalties ranging from a written reprimand to a discharge from the military.

Criminal charges are also possible.

Theriault said the investigation is not asignal that there is a drug problem in the military.

"Drugs are probably not a problem worse than it is in the civilian area of the community," he said. "But since the Canadian Forces consist of people who come from the civilian (life), we have also certain challenges on this

 

[dwild40]

I just heard 30 were drug tested re: urine samples and interrogated. And now just waiting for test results before action will be taken. Man !!! Remember Innocent until PROVEN Guilty.

BTW was anybody else at CFB London in Feb of ‘81 When they locked down for the big Drug Search? It May have been late Jan of that year

 

[Foxhound]

Yeah, I was there. I forget exactly which month, as it didn‘t affect me personally. I lived off base.

 

[dwild40]

Foxhound
Yeah I can‘t remember the CO‘s name but the speech he gave us after his inspection that morning and the introduction of the MP‘s CID types and dogs kinda blew me away.
We all had to stay in Beaver Hall and were escorted to our barracks by floor assignments. While waiting our turn I had to have a leak and I asked an MP for permission who assigned a meathead to go with me and watch me actually urinate. I have a hard time performing in front of an audience...I had nothing to worry about but I am sure they caught a few guys.
However when we landed in Norway a few weeks later the Norwegian MP‘s went over our kit with dogs while we stood in a line 30 m away.

 

[Padraig OCinnead]

Guilty or not it I‘m stunned that troops would be friggin around with dope when getting ready to go on a real time ops overseas. Soft drugs while in garrison are still a bad thing but a pot head in Afghanistan is a whole different matter. A place like that has proven that we need all our wits about us.

 

[Foxhound]

wilfong, at one point that day, I remember clearly as my sect. was marching back to Beaver Hall where our pl. (C. of D.) was situated, we saw that Cpls. N. and M. were being marched out, hatless, over to their qtrs. It blew us away that two guys from our pl. were picked up in the sweep, but later on we all agreed that in hindsight there were signs. The ex-boxer that I mentioned in another post kept walking around swearing blood revenge. Our pl. cmdr., a normally taciturn and very calm man was about to blow a gasket. You may remember a blond, very red-faced Lt. in the office at Beaver Hall staring blankly at his phone. As I remember, both guys got six months in Edmonton and both "decided" to resign shortly after release.

At the end of the ex. in Norway, I was "volunteered" to be a casualty on a med-evac Herc. back home. I was ALWAYS picked to be the casualty because I was light and easy to fling around. (The tag they tied to my parka said that I had shot myself in the foot. Thanks, boss!) Anyhow, before the flight they lined us all up, all the "casualties" had to get up off their stretchers to be searched. Then when we hit Trenton and de-planed, they looked us over again, even the flight nurses and med-A‘s.

The other thing I remember about the incident is that with so many attachments in from other units, especially the reserves, in preparation for the exercise, we RCR‘s were feeling very ashamed.

 

[dwild40]

Exactly and I was one of those attatchments, and very sorry to this day. The shame was not yours. It belonged to the guilty.

And Padraig I agree. What the heck were they thinking???

 

[Franko]

We recently ha a youngin‘ caught with some blow in the shacks( about 6 to 9 months ago).

RSM crusified him. Charge and immediate release 5F

When will these idiots ever learn?

Regards

 

[GrahamD]

VALCARTIER, QUE. - Seventeen soldiers at the Valcartier military base in Quebec have tested positive for illicit drug use, scuttling plans to send them to Afghanistan.

"The chain of command is now taking appropriate preventive measures to ensure the safety of troops deployed in Afghanistan," Lt.-Col. Bernard Ouellette, acting commander of 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, said in a statement.

Urine samples submitted by two other soldiers not bound for Operation Athena in Afghanistan also showed signs of drug use.

All 19 soldiers face disciplinary measures that could include dismissal from the Canadian Forces, the Department of National Defence said.

Its scary to think that 2/3 of the group they sampled turned up positive. What would they find if they tested everyone?

I think that people like these are going to be the cause of mandatory drug testing for all Canadian Forces personel in the future. I can‘t say that I would blame them for doing it either. 19 of 29 people turning up positive is rediculous, and of the 10 who tested clean, how many of them had simply found the means to flush their system, or have been off the dope just long enough to avoid being detected this time.

What a bunch of idiots.

 

[big_castor]

Its scary to think that 2/3 of the group they sampled turned up positive. What would they find if they tested everyone?

Chances are they acted on the basis of reliable information and targeted a very specific group of people, hence the high number of positive. They didn‘t test 30 soldiers at random. We shouldn‘t extrapolate that 2/3 of the members of the Battalion are drug users based on that small sample.

 

[Pte. Bloggins]

An update on the above story

Failed drug tests gut Afghan-bound unit

CFB VALCARTIER, Que. (CP) â ” Nineteen of 29 soldiers in a unit bound for the war on terror in Afghanistan have tested positive for illicit drug use, the Canadian Forces confirmed today.
The tests followed searches of the base by military police and drug-detecting dogs earlier this week after they received a tip.

Of those who tested positive, 17 were to have gone to Afghanistan.

The military said none of the 17 will be going.

A small quantity of drugs was also found during the search of several offices and lockers belonging to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment at Valcartier, said the National Investigative Service, the investigative arm of the military police.

The 19 could face reprimands or discharge from the forces, the military said in a statement.

â Å“The chain of command is now taking appropriate preventative measures to ensure the safety of troops deployed in Afghanistan,â ? said Lt-Col. Bernard Ouellette, acting commander of 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group.

The military could not immediately say which drugs had been detected in the tests.

 

[girlfiredup]

This is really stupid on their part. I can‘t believe these individuals chose to risk their career, character, reputation, and possibly the lives of their comrades.. all for the sake of a buzz.