PLAN FOR DRUG TESTS ON POLICE

Random drug testing of police officers is being reconsidered by the government
only a year after it rejected the idea.

The Home Office minister Hazel Blears said that the Police Advisory Board will
review the issue next month. She told Radio 4: "We will be very interested to
see what comes out of the board and we will look at the issue again then."

It follows suggestions from the Police Superintendents' Association of England
and Wales that drug testing should be introduced among officers.

Kevin Morris, president of the association, will tell the group's conference
next week that officers are "ethically bound" to accept random tests, as they
enforce Britain's drugs laws.

"We owe it to the public to show it quite clearly and categorically that police
are not taking illicit drugs," he said. "I think we have to be realistic that
with over 130,000 police officers - some will be tempted."

But the Police Federation is not as keen. Its chairwoman, Jan Berry, said she
wanted to see proper welfare and support for officers with personal problems.
"These personal problems could come in a va riety of ways - alcohol or drug
dependency," she said.

Compulsory drug tests for the armed services were introduced nine years ago.
Since then, positive tests have fallen from 5% to less than 1%.

A random testing scheme in the west Midlands force found 44 positive results
out of a sample of 2,000. Most (34) were medication related.

David Wilson, a criminologist at the University of Central England who has
written a book about drug taking among police, said some officers talked openly
about taking drugs in Amsterdam and at raves, and some would advise dealers
what to do if caught.

"Their drug taking was quite clearly a subculture," he said. "The officers
being recruited are from a 20-something generation which is quite open about
drug taking."

Cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine were the most commonly used drugs by officers.

"The problem with a random and mandatory programme of drug testing is that, in
prisons, it has changed the drug use from cannabis to barbiturates. Cannabis
stays in your system for 28 days, whereas barbiturates leave within 48 hours."