A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH ON DRUGS

It's a noteworthy case, mostly because it's so small.

Twelve current and former members of Canada's military were charged
last week with drug related crimes under the National Defense Act.
It's one of the biggest cases of this nature in Canadian Forces history.

Military police announced that they had seized a drug lab in a
housing unit at CFB Wainwright, along with about $10,000 worth of
Dimethyltryptamine or DMT, cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and prescription drugs.

That's all.

If the Mounties or city police made a similar bust, they might not
even have issued a public announcement. They usually reserve that
kind of fanfare for seizures 10 or 20 times that size.

One must also look at the charges. Two of the suspects were charged
with operating the lab, which was allegedly used to manufacture the
DMT, one of the most powerful hallucinogens in the world. They were
also charged with trafficking and possession.

Two others were also charged with trafficking and possession.

But the remaining eight were charged only with possession and using
controlled substances, which implies they were buying, not selling,
the drugs. In fact, no one in the civilian world would even be
charged with using drugs unless they were driving under the influence.

Military police said that at this point, there's nothing to indicate
these narcotics were being distributed anywhere outside the military.

The only reason the arrests got as much attention as they did is
because it involved the military, where illicit drug use is much
lower than in the general population.

Testing has shown that only 4.8% of soldiers admit to smoking
marijuana - the most popular illicit drug - compared to upwards of
14% of Canadians as a whole. In general, the rate of drug use in the
military is about half that of the general population.

The Canadian Forces has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to
drugs, and the vast majority of soldiers seem to buy into that
stance. As Lt. Col. Paul Duff, the commander of CFB Wainwright put it
last week, "people are handling live-ammunition weapons. People who
are on drugs are a danger to themselves and their colleagues, in
training and in operations. What we want in battle is a soldier who
can make quick decisions. and people on drugs aren't usually capable
of doing that."

Soldiers in combat must have their wits about them at all times.

That's why the military does so much drug testing.

All forces members can be subject to random testing, and everyone
who's shipping out to a combat zone must submit to a short-notice
test. Everyone who fails - or refuses - is kept back and subject to discipline.

If anything, last week's charges show that the Canadian Forces' tough
stance on illicit drugs is working.