DOZENS CONVICTED AT LEJEUNE FOR DRUGS

Authorities announced Tuesday the conviction of more than 80 Marines and
sailors at Camp Lejeune in one of the biggest drug investigations on a
military base in recent years.

The two-year investigation highlights the growing problem of designer drugs
in the military.

Officials seized more than $1.4 million in drugs such as Ecstasy,
methamphetamine, LSD and cocaine. Eighty-four Marines and sailors at the
Jacksonville base in northeastern North Carolina were charged with
distributing or using the drugs; an additional 99 civilians were also
arrested in the sting, code-named Operation Xterminator.

"We've got to be able to deploy," said Lejeune spokeswoman Lt. Marisol
Cantu. "We can't have Marines or sailors using drugs."

Ninety-nine percent of the cases resulted in convictions in military
courts, Lejeune officials said. Charges are pending in two more cases.

The investigation began in February 2000, when vice officers in nearby
Wilmington noticed Marines and sailors at large techno-dance rave parties
where drug use was common.

Many details were unclear Tuesday evening, such as whether the drugs were
used on the base or whether some of the arrested were from units that have
been sent overseas.

Officials scheduled a news conference for this morning at the base.

Drug testing in the military started in the mid-1980s, following a fatal
crash on an aircraft carrier. Overall, the use of illicit drugs has
steadily fallen since the Vietnam era, but the use of so-called party drugs
has recently increased.

In fiscal 2000, all military personnel took 2.3 million urine tests. Almost
1,100 tested positive for Ecstasy -- a tenfold increase over 1998,
according to published reports.

The drug still trails marijuana and cocaine. In 1999, for instance, 12,000
GIs tested positive for marijuana, and 2,800 had used cocaine.

Other cases since 2001:

* Eleven soldiers in the 16th Military Police Brigade at Fort Bragg accused
of using Ecstasy, LSD and marijuana. Two were accused of being dealers.

* Twenty-three sailors in a Hawaii-based Navy squadron, accused of using
Ecstasy, methamphetamine, LSD and cocaine.

* Thirteen sailors on the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier charged with using
and distributing methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

* Five cadets at the Air Force Academy charged with possession of Ecstasy.

To combat drug use, the Pentagon has begun using a better drug test and has
also started random tests on weekends, holidays, Mondays and even in the
middle of the night.

At Lejeune, 200 miles east of Charlotte, urine tests are given annually,
officials said. But designer drugs can be difficult to detect because
traces disappear from the body within a week.

Of the 84 charged, 61 were accused of distributing drugs, and 23 were
accused of using them. Several members of the military received the maximum
punishment of dishonorable discharge, 15 years in a brig and forfeiture of
pay and allowances.

"It was just a large group of people -- I don't believe there was a
specific kingpin," said Klain W. Garriga, a special agent with the
Carolinas' office of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Lejeune officials stress that the 84 arrested are less than 1 percent of
the 55,000 Marines and sailors who were at the base during the past two years.

"It is a career-ender," Garriga said, "so I don't believe it is very
prevalent."