SOLDIERS BOUND FOR AFGHANISTAN FAIL DRUG TEST

QUEBEC -- Seventeen Canadian soldiers bound for Afghanistan tested positive
for illicit drug use and will no longer be deployed as part of Canada's
military operation in that country.

Twenty-nine members of the Royal 22nd Regiment at the Valcartier military
base near Quebec City were tested on Monday, after a search of offices and
lockers with dogs found small quantities of drugs. Military authorities had
received an anonymous tip.

Nineteen of the 29 soldiers tested positive. Seventeen of them were
destined for Afghanistan, but have now been pulled from the deployment, and
face reprimand or even discharge from the Canadian Forces, military
officials said yesterday.

"The chain of command is now taking appropriate preventive measures to
ensure the safety of troops deployed in Afghanistan," Lieutenant-Colonel
Bernard Ouellette, acting commander of 5 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group,
stated in a press release yesterday.

Military authorities refused to say what drugs have been identified. There
was no indication whether the 17 soldiers who tested positive will be replaced.

The incident blemishes the much-decorated 22nd Regiment, commonly known as
the Vandoos. "Seventeen of them were scheduled to leave but for obvious
reasons they won't be deploying, because there are reasonable doubts and
chances that they may pose a threat to themselves and their colleagues,
given the fact that Kabul is a difficult mission," said Captain Mario
Couture, a spokesman at the Valcartier base.

The investigation continues, as part of an operation to crack down on
troops before they embark on what is considered a highly dangerous assignment.

"These guys handle live ammunition and live weapons," Capt. Couture said,
insisting that the military cannot tolerate the use of any illicit drugs by
its soldiers.

Former corporal Robert Desroby said many of the soldiers destined for duty
in Afghanistan are under enormous pressure and often resort to drugs such
as marijuana to relieve the stress.

"It is often viewed as a sign of weakness in the military to admit to a
drug a problem and seek medical help," Mr. Desroby said in a Radio-Canada
interview yesterday.

Capt. Couture said stress is not an excuse to justify the use of illicit
drugs for any soldier who handles dangerous weapons.

The Valcartier troops are replacing the Royal Canadian Regiment, based at
Ontario's CFB Petawawa. One of that regiment's members, Corporal Jamie
Murphy of Newfoundland, was killed in Afghanistan just days before he was
scheduled to return home.

Capt. Couture noted that drug use on military bases was no different then
what could be found in the civilian population.

He acknowledged that 19 positive samples out of 29 might appear to be
unusually high, but pointed out the test specifically targeted 29 soldiers
out of a battalion of more than 600.

"From a Canadian Forces perspective, one is too many. But again it shows to
reflect that we draw our people from society and we tend to get the same
result as in the rest of society," he said.

The military no longer conducts random drug tests on its troops. It acts on
information from police, and will order urine tests on soldiers in
rehabilitation from past drug use.

According to federal figures, the Canadian military conducted 450 drug
tests on its troops in 2003, and 106 returned positive.

Meanwhile yesterday, Prime Minister Paul Martin backtracked from a claim
that Canada will send 500 troops to Afghanistan in August.

After making the statement on CBC the previous evening, Mr. Martin
clarified his position, saying the next deployment could be smaller.

His new position was more in line with previous government statements that
the Canadian Forces are stretched thin and could send a contingent of
around 200 or 300 troops to help with the reconstruction of an Afghan
province in the fall.

"The government of Canada has said that up to 500 [troops], not more, could
remain or could be rotated back if the jobs they were required to perform
would not stretch them too thin," Mr. Martin said in the House yesterday.

Conservative MP Jay Hill accused Mr. Martin of speaking too quickly and
scaring the families of Canadian soldiers.

"Rotations home have been put off, and training has been delayed. Our
troops need a break, and until last night the Prime Minister indicated he
would give them one. Why do our soldiers and their families have to stay
glued to their television sets to learn if and when the Prime Minister
intends to send them overseas?" Mr. Hill asked during Question Period.