TOP INVESTIGATORS ON CASE FOLLOWING FAILED DRUG TESTS

Military Using 'Every Available Resource' To 'Stamp Out' Problem

The military has put its top crime investigators on alert after a
spate of recent failed drug tests at CFB Gagetown.

Maj. Rob Bell, senior operations officer with the Canadian Forces
National Investigation Service, said he has met with army
representatives to discuss the drug tests conducted on soldiers
training to go to Afghanistan next February.

"The army and other organizations are definitely concerned about the
issue, and so they've engaged us to ask what strategies we are using
to try and mitigate it," Maj. Bell said Thursday. "It has definitely
got the attention of the highest echelons, and we are using every
resource available to try and stamp it out."

"Those guys are taking these people into theatres of operations where
their performance is important to the survival and the effectiveness
of the group," Maj. Bell said. "And so I think they have definitely
got a renewed focus at reducing and eliminating drug usage."

Sources told the Fredericton Gleaner last month that 16 to 18 per cent
of Afghanistan-bound soldiers tested recently at the base were found
to have traces of illegal substances in their systems, including
marijuana, cocaine, speed and even heroin.

"This latest examination, if you will, clearly says to us that
Gagetown is perhaps a good place to be focusing some of our efforts
today," said Capt. John Kirschner, commanding officer of the National
Investigation Service for the Atlantic region.

He isn't allowed to discuss ongoing investigations.

"But I think most people would probably reason that, after a
significant process like that, which gathered so much attention, you'd
have to be pretty silly to, probably in the next few months anyways,
be overt about perhaps your drug usage," Capt. Kirschner said.

Given all the publicity, trying to mount an undercover drug probe at
Gagetown would likely be more difficult now than six months ago, he
said.

"It would scare everybody off; nobody in their right mind is going to
sell drugs to somebody they don't know after that," Maj. Bell said.

The military uses education, deterrence and enforcement to fight
against illicit drug use, he said.

A private charged with possession for the purpose of drug trafficking
is slated to go to court martial next month at Gagetown. But both his
lawyer and military police say it's unlikely that the charges are
related to soldiers recently failing drug tests because it normally
takes about a year for a case to get to court martial.

Mandatory urine testing began in late September at Gagetown for troops
heading to Afghanistan early next year.

The military says troops caught with illegal drugs in their systems
won't face charges but could face administrative penalties ranging
from a verbal reprimand to release from the Canadian Forces.

Soldiers who test positive for drugs will not be sent to Afghanistan,
officials have said. Soldiers are being given a second chance to take
the tests, for which results won't be released until the ongoing
testing is finished.

More than 2,000 soldiers will take part in Task Force 1-07, the
military contingent heading to Afghanistan in February.

Some 900 troops based in Atlantic Canada are slated to be deployed to
the Kandahar region in early 2007. About 250 of them are reservists
from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Prince Edward
Island. The others are coming from Edmonton and CFB Petawawa, outside
Ottawa. 'Those guys are taking these people into theatres of
operations where their performance is important to the survival and
the effectiveness of the group.'