CFB ESQUIMALT LEADS BASES IN DRUG BUSTS

When it comes drug busts on the country's military bases, CFB Esquimalt
comes in first place.

In 2003, five investigations resulted in personnel at CFB Esquimalt being
charged with drug offences, said Capt. Mark Giles, spokesperson for the
military's National Investigation Service.

"Certainly the statistics are a little higher than elsewhere," Giles said.

However, he stressed that the number of drug busts at CFB Esquimalt and
other bases across the country are not high.

"One is too many and five is too many. But on the other hand it's not 150 -
it's not a huge amount," Giles said.

The investigations in question at all of the bases refer to more serious
offences such as those concerned with drug trafficking, he said.

"The cases of simple possession . . . there would more than that for sure,"
Giles said.

The information concerning drug offences among military personnel came from
two reports from the military police's Criminal Intelligence Program. The
reports were made public following a successful access to information
request from Sun Media earlier this month.

CFB Edmonton ranked second for drug offences among personnel while almost
as many drug busts occurred on bases in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Gagetown,
New Brunswick, Giles said. Earlier this month, three soldiers at CFB
Edmonton were charged with drug trafficking offences involving small
quantities of drugs, he pointed out.

There were 114 drug investigations - some of which involved marijuana
growing operations - on military bases last year, Giles said.

The number of drug busts in the military are slightly up from prior to
2003, he said. While Giles is not absolutely certain why that's the case,
he guessed that it has something to do with the implementation of the
military's National Drug Enforcement Team last year.

There is also a drug education program in place in Canada's military, Giles
said

"Having a drug-free work environment for the Canadian Forces is very
important," he said.