Ten troops from Black Watch fail drug tests

Published on Saturday 17 May 2008 19:38

TEN Black Watch soldiers face expulsion from the Army after failing a random drug test. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the men are junior ranking officers, who now have the option of appealing the tests, or of admitting their drug use and being discharged.

An MoD spokeswoman said: "This is unacceptable behaviour. They are all told from day one when they go into the Army what will happen to them if they take drugs, and every soldier receives a lecture once a year to remind them. So there is no excuse."

Tests were performed on 370 members of the 550-strong Third Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The battalion is based at the Fort George Barracks in Inverness, before being deployed to Afghanistan next year.

Last year 17 soldiers from the Argyll and Southern Highlanders were given a dishonourable discharge after testing positive. In total, 769 soldiers were discharged from the Army last year for drug use. The Army's head of drug policy, Colonel John Donnelly, said of the number: "That's 0.7% of our strength. Over 99% of our soldiers get the message and are free from drugs."

Each year, 85% of Army personnel face an unannounced compulsory drug test. In 2003 an average of 1.4 per 1,000 failed, with cannabis accounting for 50% of positive tests. Between January and June 2007 this number had risen to 5.7 per 1,000. Half of those soldiers failed after testing positive for cocaine. It has been suggested this rise in cocaine use could be due to soldiers being more aware of how quickly traces leave the system – two to three days, compared to two to three weeks for evidence of cannabis.