DOD SEEKS NEW TEST TO BUST SPICE USERS

SAN DIEGO - The Defense Department is teaming up with the National
Institute on Drug Abuse to develop a department-wide method of
catching service members who use synthetic marijuana, also known as spice.

The aim is to develop better urinalysis testing - either random or
targeted - for all the services to use, according to a source who
spoke on the condition of anonymity. The services now only screen to
confirm suspected use and do not test randomly.

The new spice study was initiated earlier this year by the office of
the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness and the
NIDA, a Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed. The goal is "to identify and
address gaps in existing technology in the screening for synthetic
marijuana-like products," said Cynthia Smith, the spokeswoman. "The
joint DoD-NIDA study is to offer potential solutions for the possible
addition of synthetic marijuana-like compounds found in 'spice' to
the DoD panel of tested drugs." The study would ensure a unified
effort and route spice screenings through the Armed Forces Medical
Examiner System.

Marilyn Huestis, NIDA's chemistry and metabolic chief, confirmed that
the organization has an interagency agreement with DoD. She did not
know how soon a test could be developed.

Researchers began the study in June to determine screening
procedures, testing parameters and "the more appropriate windows of
detection ... and what those detection windows should be," Huestis
said. The work may include alternate ways to screen for the synthetic
chemicals, such as testing orally.

Earlier this year, the Air Force began testing for spice as part of
its regular screening for illicit drugs. But even as the Navy and
Marine Corps have pushed strong anti-spice public service messages,
Navy Drug Screening Laboratories, which routinely handle Navy and
Marine Corps testing for illicit substances, don't test for synthetic
cannabinoids, according to the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
Only in cases in which there is an active criminal investigation
involving a sailor or Marine suspected of violating the Navy
Department's no-drug regulations would a urine test be done to screen
for spice.

Right now, with no active testing program in place, general drug
tests or sweeps of sailors do not detect spice and other designer
substances, said Capt. Cappy Surette, a BUMED spokesman.

"Navy and Marine Corps commanders can have urine samples tested for
several of the compounds found in spicelike products at [AFMES] when
the sample has been collected in conjunction with an ongoing
investigation" by agencies, including Naval Criminal Investigative
Service and Criminal Investigative Division, Surette said.

A positive urinalysis isn't required to kick out sailors found to use
spice; they usually are punished or separated from the service for
being caught with or confessing to using spice.

Navy officials this year upped the volume on the service's anti-spice
campaign with new messages, videos and posters touting the dangerous
health effects of using cannabinoids. "Use of these products is not
good for the health or careers of our people and effects unit
readiness," Surette said.

"We have been aggressively communicating the negative health effects
of spice, because it isn't well-known," he said. "There are
misconceptions that the products are freely available and nothing is
going to happen to you."

In March, the Drug Enforcement Agency issued a ban on several
chemicals used in making the synthetic pot, making use or possession
of spice illegal under federal law. But in recent months, scores of
sailors, including several dozen assigned to two aircraft carriers in
San Diego, have been caught using or selling spice and subsequently
were being processed out.