Drug addict soldiers get detox before axe

Published on Saturday 26 January 2008 19:46

THE Ministry of Defence is sending drug-addicted soldiers to £500-a-night detox clinics before throwing them out of the armed forces.

Despite the armed forces' uncompromising "no illegal drugs" policy, the military insists that it has a "duty of care" to its troops even if the offenders are to be discharged.

The MoD is currently inviting tenders for contracts to run in-patient mental health services for members of the armed forces who are suffering from combat stress, drug and alcohol addiction, and eating disorders. The contract is estimated to be worth up to 10m a year.

Last year it emerged that 17 soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were being thrown out of the army after being found to be taking hard drugs.

A spokesman for the MoD said it was policy to treat troops for addiction before throwing them out of the army. He said: "The MoD takes its duty of care very seriously. We ensure the patient will receive appropriate treatment in these cases. Normal service policy on substance misuse will apply once the patient has been discharged from a mental health care episode. We will treat them even though they will be discharged from the armed forces."

But the MoD's policy of treating troops and then discharging them has led to calls for some personnel who are recovered addicts to be allowed back into the forces. Troops suffering from alcoholism are normally treated at detox clinics and then sent back to their units.

Ben Wilmott, employee relations adviser for the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, said: "The normal practice would be to treat sufferers from drug addiction with a view to returning them to the workplace. This practice is not one I have encountered before, although I appreciate the military will have their own issues because of the nature of their roles."

Clive Fairweather, the former deputy commander of the SAS, said: "The army is understandably wary of drugs because soldiers handle dangerous things like weapons and helicopters and so forth. But I think that there is a place for allowing soldiers back in, after a period of being clean from drugs. You would get an wiser and more experienced soldier and recoup all that training."