UK News
Army dismissing 'battalion a year' through drugs
By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Dec 14, 2007, 8:46 GMT
A handout photograph released 03 September 2007 showing British forces returning to the contingency operating base following the handover of Basra Palace to the Iraqi Palace Protection Force, in Basra, Iraq, 03 September 2007. EPA/MOD CPL STEVE FOLLOWS CROWN COPYRIGHT
(M&C) - The British army is losing the equivalent of a battalion a year through troops testing positive to illegal drugs a report revealed today.
The numbers of soldiers testing positive under compulsory drug testing (CDT) has risen from from 517 in 2003 to 769 last year.
The numbers discharged from the army are more than the fatalities and casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan says figures produced by the Royal United Services Institute.
Christianne Tipping, head of the institute's defence leadership and management programme, says in a separate publication,"The MoD needs to be sure that its near zero tolerance approach still constitutes the best way of managing the problem of drug abuse in the armed forces."
However a MoD spokesman said the illegal drug problem in the services was not widespread citing figures which show "Positive rates in the army over the last four years average around 0.77%, compared with more than 7% in civilian workplace drug testing."
The army tests around 85 percent of its staff each year.
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