A VERY PERSONAL ENEMY

Center Helps Marines Fight Substance Abuse

CAMP PENDLETON - Pfc. Grant Wylie, 20, lost nearly everything when he
tested positive for marijuana use in July.

He lost his lance corporal's insignia. Any future as a Marine.

And it may cost him an honorable discharge.

"I hurt myself real bad," said Wylie, a supply administration clerk. Being
a Marine "was one of the first times in my life where I really worked hard
at something. I just kinda threw it away at a whim."

Wylie became a voluntary client of Camp Pendleton's substance abuse
counseling center - the base's ground zero for battling drugs and alcohol.

The center and its director, John Veneziano, this week are scheduled to
receive a Marine Corps-wide award - its third since 1995 - for the base's
anti-drug campaign.

But even though the Marines have cracked down on illegal drugs through
increasingly frequent urine testing and even though every Marine is told
one infraction ends a career, the center's challenges in combating drug use
remain, Veneziano said.

Last year, 1,238 base Marines failed drug tests, 0.8 percent of 148,495
randomly conducted screenings. Back in 1994, the first year for which data
is available, 114,350 tests revealed 951 positives - again, 0.8 percent.
Throughout the Corps, Marines failed drug tests at about the same rate last
year.

"It is frustrating," Veneziano said. "I'd like to see an impact, in the
numbers of positive urinalysis tests (going down). But they seem to have
declined as low as they're going to.

"We're dealing with a young population, and (they think) 'This drug isn't
going to hurt me,' said Veneziano, who has counseled Marines since 1985.
"They think they are indestructible."

The Marines are about to try using the war on terrorism to deliver the
anti-drug message.

The idea is to convince troops that they can't fight Osama bin Laden and
then buy illegal drugs whose profits go into the enemy's pockets - such as
the opium industry in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.

"These are combat-ready Marines," said Veneziano. "We're saying, 'Hey ...
if you're willing to do that, why would you want to do drugs? So you can go
fight yourself?' "

Most Pendleton Marines who hit trouble with drugs are enlisted personnel.
Marijuana accounted for more than half the positive tests.

Despite no drop in drug use, Veneziano views random testing as the Corps'
strongest deterrent. It should give young Marines a way to deflect peer
pressure when offered a pipe or a pill, he said.

"We arm them with that. Does it work 100 percent of the time? No," said
Veneziano, a retired Marine. "Along with that is an education about drug
abuse and drug use. The other part is holding people accountable for their
actions."

Wylie is an example.

He said he fleetingly thought about the possibility of a drug test before
he took his first puff of pot.

"I was thinking I could kinda take the risk and I would be OK," he said. "I
thought I could beat the system, and you can't."

Marines caught by a urine screening are referred to Pendleton's
rehabilitation program.

Under a zero-tolerance policy, any Marine who tests positive for drugs is
discharged, though a commander can allow a Marine to finish an enlistment
first.

The best someone like Wylie can hope for is to be allowed to serve out his
hitch and earn better than a dishonorable discharge. Numerous factors
determine what kind of a discharge a Marine gets.

At Pendleton, 40 Marines like Wylie took part in drug treatment and
counseling last fiscal year. Far more, 824 Marines, went through initial
screening at the center after testing positive for drugs, then chose not to
follow through with counseling.

More than 1,000 Marines were evaluated for alcohol use in the same year,
and 493 sought treatment. Unlike drugs, an alcohol problem doesn't
necessarily end a Marine's career.

Wylie said his commander urged him to seek help at the counseling center
after his punishment, and he agreed, discovering it was valuable. The
classes on what drugs do to the body will stay with him, he said.

"In my situation, they could have very easily just cast me aside, but they
said, 'All right, we're going to make sure you're OK no matter what,' "
Wylie said.