TROOPS WARNED OF MORE DRUG TESTING ON MISSION

The next contingent of Canadians to wage battle against the Taliban
will hear a timely reminder this morning at CFB Gagetown and across
the country: no drugs on the mission.

The military has now tested 90 per cent of the roughly 2,400 soldiers
who will be deployed to Afghanistan starting 10 days from today. The
rest will be tested before they leave.

Less than five per cent have tested positive. Drug use made them
ineligible to join their comrades overseas under the military's zero
tolerance policy.

The commander taking the next battle group to Kandahar will include a
warning there's more drug testing when he addresses soldiers in a
battle parade this morning at Gagetown, home of The Second Battalion,
The Royal Canadian Regiment (2RCR). His message will also be conveyed
to hundreds of soldiers at bases elsewhere who will join the mission.

"I'll be telling my battle group we'll be randomly tested again," Lt.
Col. Rob Walker said Monday. "We'll be tested again before we deploy
and when we're in theatre."

Walker said by far the majority of the soldiers who tested positive
are privates or entry-level corporals, suggesting they are relatively
new recruits.

"It's disappointing because that five per cent represents individuals
who won't be joining us," he said. "But the leadership is very happy
(the testing) was done.

"A lot of the old guys like myself are saying 'it's about time.

Walker said he's seen too many soldiers' lives turned upside down by
drug use over the years. He's known drug dependency or addiction to
ruin marriages and careers and personal health as well as leave
people deep in debt.

It's also out of place in a combat situation, where soldiers are
taught to depend on the comrade next to them when they're thrust into
life-and-death situations.

"I want focus, an unclouded mind and judgment," he said. "I don't
want guys with a dependency or addiction.

"They'd lack the level of mental toughness we're counting on."

Walker, who is from Saskatchewan, said drugs are so much a part of
the Afghan economy that he compared the fields of poppies and
marijuana he's seen there to the wheat crops he grew up with.

Walking through the Afghan fields left him concerned about the
prevalence of drugs in the region his soldiers will patrol.

Still, he said drug use is not especially rampant in the military.

For less than five per cent of that particular population - young
people, mostly new recruits - to test positive is not all that
surprising given the prevalence of drug use among their peers in the
civilian population, he suggested.

Marijuana use among Canadians peaked at ages 18 and 19, reaching 38
per cent in 2004, says Statistics Canada. After age 24, the
percentage of current users began to drop, although numbers in the
age groups from 25-to-34 to 45-to-54 were still substantial.

Drug use among soldiers preparing for the Afghan mission surfaced last fall.

Early, unconfirmed reports in October had suggested as many as 300
soldiers had tested positive.

Official results in November placed that number at 72, back when
1,400 soldiers had been tested.

The tests were ordered last spring by Chief of Defence Staff Gen.
Rick Hillier for all soldiers heading to Afghanistan.

The contingent of 2,400 soldiers being deployed in later this month
and in February, including 900 from Atlantic Canada, are the first to
be tested under the policy. There are also 250 reservists from the
Atlantic region.

The testing was done on all ranks.

A month ago, four corporals and a private based at CFB Gagetown were
charged with drug trafficking after a seven-month investigation by
the military.

The soldiers who tested positive for drug use face a range of
repercussions, including counselling and probation and continued drug
testing. Some may end up being released from the forces.