DRUGS BLITZ TARGETS SOLDIERS

MILITARY personnel will be forced to undergo random drug tests, despite
claims they are unreliable and fail to reduce drug use.

An Australian Defence Force internal report slammed random urine sampling
for drugs as extremely unreliable and the ADF could be swamped with long
and expensive legal challenges because of false results.

In May, the ADF announced plans to force 50,000 full time employees and
77,000 reservists to submit random urine samples. Tests would cost $15.
Samples would be tested for cannabis, amphetamines, opiates and barbiturates.

The testing policy was to begin by the end of the year but is understood to
have been delayed.

The Management of Substance Abuse in the Australian Defence Force report,
released internally in September, slammed the practice of random drug testing.

It said urine testing was extremely unreliable with a high level of false
positive results. In a workplace of 10,000 with 100 drug users, 99 of the
users would test positive, as would 990 non-users, it said.

``The possibility of false positives will most certainly result in
protracted and expensive legal disputes and Court proceedings,'' it said,
``As the prevalence of illicit drug use in the ADF is likely to be low,
there would seem to be a major potential for false positives and a
consequent risk of legal action from individuals falsely accused.''

The report also warned that drug testing had an extremely limited capacity
to reduce drug-related harm.

``Drug testing existing employees has not been shown in a single
scientifically controlled study to have a positive impact on productivity
or safety. Nor have such programs been demonstrated to reduce drug use,''
it said.

A spokesman from the Department of Defence declined to comment as the
report has yet to be reviewed.