MORE SOLDIERS THAN EVER ARE USING COCAINE - AND BEING DISHONOURABLY
DISMISSED

Cocaine use among soldiers is soaring, according to
research.

The number testing positive for the class A drug has quadrupled since
2003.

Research into compulsory drug testing in the Army found that 769
soldiers tested positive for illegal drugs in 2006 - up from 517 just
three years before.

Soldiers who test positive for illegal drugs are usually dishonourably
discharged.

The Journal of the Royal United Services Institute, which published
the report, said the loss of personnel was higher than the number of
fatalities and serious casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Christianne Tipping, defence management analyst from RUSI, said: "The
issue of an increasing number of drug-related discharges, at a time
when recruitment and retention are problematic, needs to be examined
by the Ministry of Defence."

The survey comes just weeks after 17 soldiers from the 5th Battalion
The Royal Regiment of Scotland (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders)
tested positive for drugs after a rest and relaxation period in
Cancun, Mexico.

They were all dismissed.

Professor Sheila Bird, senior scientist at the Medical Research
Council, said the Army's cocaine positive rate was probably the tip of
the iceberg.

The positive rate is up from 1.4 per 1,000 in 2003 to 5.7 in 2007 - a
more than four-fold increase.

But the testing programme is likely to miss infrequent drug use, so
cocaine use could be two to three times higher.

In 2003, cannabis accounted for half of all positive tests, compared
to 22 per cent for cocaine.

But by 2006, around 50 per cent of all positive tests registered
cocaine use, with cannabis around 30 per cent.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "Positive drug testing
rates in the Army over the last four years average around 0.77 per
cent, compared with over 7 per cent in civilian workplace drug testing.

"Drug misuse is significantly less prevalent among service personnel
than in corresponding civilian groups."