cannabisnews.com: Navy Anti-Drug War Proves Effective










  Navy Anti-Drug War Proves Effective

Posted by CN Staff on August 24, 2003 at 10:54:56 PT
By Gregg K. Kakesako 
Source: Star-Bulletin  

Without warning, Navy Petty Officer Lahaunn Moore was told as he stood in a morning formation in January that it was his turn to submit to one of his command's random drug tests."The supervisor just walked up to me and said: 'Moore, it's your turn for urinalysis,'" said Moore, now protocol assistant at the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Moore, 23, was immediately escorted to a bathroom and given a plastic bottle. The urine sample was then taken to a collection point.Since 1982, the Navy has been screening all of its sailors for illicit drug use -- for drugs ranging from marijuana, cocaine, to ice and Ecstasy -- under its "zero-tolerance" program. The Navy says, "All personnel found guilty of a single incident of drug use must be processed for administrative separation."Today, the Navy maintains that fewer sailors are using illegal drugs, noting that less than one half of 1 percent of all urine samples now come back positive. Navy officials say the most likely drug user is a male sailor who has been in the service for less than three years and has not qualified for any specialty.In 1982, the first year of urinalysis screening, the percent of positive samples was 7.21 percent. The percentage of positive samples this year through April has dropped to 0.47 percent.Linda Boswell, Pacific Fleet's alcohol and drug control officer, said test results in her command reflect the same downward trend. Urinalysis tests conducted between October and April resulted in 0.43 percent positive samples."We see our accomplishment due to our prevention triad: leadership awareness, random urinalysis and prevention education," Boswell said.Bill Flannery, the Navy's alcohol and drug abuse prevention program manager in Millington, Tenn., said, "The drug testing program in the Navy today is the model by which drug testing programs in the civilian community are designed."Boswell said a cornerstone of the Navy's drug program is the ability of commanding officers and senior enlisted leaders to influence the actions of their subordinates."We ask them to assess their environment," Boswell for risk factors, to determine who are the sailors most at risk."Under the Navy's screening program, sailors are subject to two possible tests each year.Each month, 19 to 20 percent of the assigned sailors to a particular command are picked by a computer to be screened, said Lt. Mike Morley, Pacific Fleet spokesman. "There is no warning or excuses," he added.Morley said the entire command is checked annually.Moore said during the nearly six years he has been in uniform he can't recall how many tests he has had to take since there were so many. "Last year alone I think I was tested at least three times," Moore said.Boswell said the drug prevention education program is designed to inform sailors about the consequences they face under the Navy's "zero tolerance" program."We try to give them value-based decisions to reject drug and alcohol abuse," she said.If a sailor flunks an urinalysis test, Morley said, an administration separation board is convened where the sailor can plead his or her case.Morley said samples drawn in Hawaii are sent to drug-screening labs in San Diego. There are others in Norfolk, Va., and Jacksonville, Fla.Boswell said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon Clark has said that he wants to reduce the number of positive tests this year by 25 percent. Clark also wants to increase the numbers of sailors tested, which has steadily climbed from 450,000 in 2001, to 515,000 in 2002, and 577,000 through March 31.In the Pacific Fleet, 122,142 sailors were tested during the fiscal year which began in October 1998. The following year, 177,505 had to submit to urinalysis. Between October and April, 200,780 sailors in the Pacific Fleet were tested.Moore said the Navy approach "focuses not on solving the program, but preventing it from happening. It's a great deterrence."Note: Random screening has helped cut illegal drug use by sailors.Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)Author: Gregg K. KakesakoPublished: Sunday, August 24, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Honolulu Star-BulletinContact: letters starbulletin.comWebsite: http://www.starbulletin.com/Related Articles:Military Sees Drug Use Rise Despite Tests http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13572.shtmlEighty Marines and Sailors Convicted of Drug Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13287.shtml

Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help





Comment #16 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on August 26, 2003 at 11:12:24 PT:
NAVAL DRUG USE?
Way back in 1977, while in a "holding company" about to be Honorably Discharged, at Balboa Hospital, on the Naval Base located across the street from Balboa Park, in San Diego, California, a Navy Physician, who was either a Commander or Lieutenant Commander told me during a conversation about Cannabis: "Don't smoke it. Eat it. Smoking's bad for you." In the militiary, "use is abuse", no ifs ands or buts about it! The Uniform Code of Military Justice is not known to be lenient on criminals, including perceived drug criminals.
I distinctly remember one Navy man, an Irish fellow. Other people told me he drinks and fights alot. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #15 posted by i420 on August 25, 2003 at 10:55:57 PT
Freedom is North young man...
Good point Kapt now we have 2 reasons to head to Canada....
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #14 posted by kaptinemo on August 25, 2003 at 08:14:48 PT:
It's hardly original; it's been asked heer before
But it stands asking again:What happens if this country is so strapped by it's Imperial designs upon other nation's resources that the All Volunteer military services are stretched to the breaking point - as they very nearly are?Many (unconscionably dim-witted and foolish) Congresscritters and Sin-a-tors are making noises about re-instituting The Draft.So...does a positive p*ss test result mean you'll be excused from compulsory military service? Will failing to be clean enough for military service WHILE STILL A CIVILIAN become the latest lock-'em-up wet-dream of Ashcroft? I can just see whole hordes of young men toking up the night before their physicals...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #13 posted by BIgDawg on August 25, 2003 at 08:07:55 PT
Dan B is right on target
While in the military I complained to the Company Commander that I had lost my 3 best people to positive UA's... but I had plenty of useless alcoholics around. All he did was smile and say, "deal with it."I dealt with it alright... by leaving the military myself.It's ok for them to drink into oblivion nightly... but smoke a joint on Friday nite... and get a less than honorable discharge. I didn't think that was very honorable.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #12 posted by 13th step on August 24, 2003 at 21:25:03 PT
Uhh, yeah.
Boswell said the drug prevention education program is designed to inform sailors about the consequences they face under the Navy's "zero tolerance" program."We try to give them value-based decisions to reject drug and alcohol abuse," she said.'Value-based' ...From hired killers.It always kills me , hired killers, people who are trained to murder for pay , and they talk of morals, values, dignity, etc.... That's funny.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #11 posted by FoM on August 24, 2003 at 20:02:49 PT
Just A Note
I removed my comment because I felt uncomfortable. Sorry about that.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #9 posted by Lehder on August 24, 2003 at 18:52:33 PT

the fractal structure of confrontation
gee that sounds deep, but it's pure bullshit inspired by 15 deranged minutes of television: a program on 19 ( it's over now, but next is promised a plane ride with a hijacker and a fed) all about good guys and bad guys confronting each other in groups, and good guys and bad guys confronting each other individually. initially i saw the good guys and their two beautiful women in their office that confronts the city forcefully confronting each with hard looks (lots of stern closeups) as they conducted a confrontational discussion on how to confront the bad guys. (you'd be fired for such aggressive behavior in any real office.) lots of confrontational strong words were exchanged, but in each confrontation a clear dominator quickly emerged. god, those guys are tough. then a scene change to the bad guys confronting each other on how best to confront the public with a bomb hidden in a building, built, no doubt ( again,i only saw the last of show) to confront idon't know - confront something. more hard looks and strong words. then the good guys arrive to confront the bad guys. a good guy, confronting the bad guy with a drawn gun, while the bad guy confronts the good guy with his drawn gun, all the while with the good guy and the good lady at his side confronting each other with more barking about how to confront the bad guy and his gun, the two guns confronting each other. and simultaneously another good guy outside with a really big good gun confronting the bad guy through a window and the good guy's boss confronting the sniper with more hard instructions as he also confronts someone somewhere else by radio on how to conduct all the confrontations. as the indoor confrontation moves to culmination, the sniper's bullet confronts the window then kills the bad guy, at which point the indoor good guy, now angered at the good sniper and his boss, turns to face out of the shattered window and confront the outdoor good guys with more hard looks. the final scenes show everyone confronting themselves individually as they struggle to deal with all the hard emotions confronting them all.i bet there's a principle of psychology called 'conservation of dignity' that says you can deal with your own failings and humiliations by thwarting and humiliating someone else, and that by living a grandiose fantasy life of successful, powerful confrontations it becomes acceptable to your psyche to...submit. to drug tests, among many other insults. i bet too that this principle comes with a breaking point wherupon a sufficient dipolarization of aggression and submission results in a spark, a powerful discharge that breaks psychologies, individually and societally, and explodes into chaos and unpredictability.Let's exploit this important principle to guide our lives.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #8 posted by Motavation on August 24, 2003 at 17:49:52 PT:

You're right FoM
I'm sure its part of their Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #7 posted by i420 on August 24, 2003 at 17:19:29 PT

It's like that...
Petard is correct more would use harder drugs we called them "weekend warriors" when I was in the service. We weren't stupid we knew pot would be detectable atleast 30 days but someone could go out coke it up on friday then piss clean monday. Those who did get caught were busted by drunks which is hypocrisy....And in regards to the sailers of course they wouldn't be doing as much dope when they are stuck on a boat out at sea.U.S.A.R.MY. -Uncle Sam Ain't Released Me Yet.or U.S.A.R.M.Y. - Uncle Sam Ain''t Re-legalized Marijuana Yet.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #6 posted by Lehder on August 24, 2003 at 16:27:58 PT

Submit!
I agree with others that the reasons for so much satisfaction with the tests are certainly ambiguous. That ambiguity suggests that the reasons and satisfactions are also as varied as the persons and mindsets that hold them. But with ever so much happiness over the tests, and advancing sensitivity of the technology, we can only expect the testing oppressions to spread in the civilian sector. "Submit" is the government's favorite word for you, citizen,
and whenever you hear this word, you may think, for starters, "drug test":>>Without warning, Navy Petty Officer Lahaunn Moore was told as he stood
   in a morning formation in January that it was his turn to submit to one of his
   command's random drug tests.So get used to it, or get angry and drop out of the work force, 
drop out of society; find yourself, eventually, without money, home, transportation or a future, standing along the roadside with empty pockets and nowhere to go, as so many already have. It's all the same from corporate government's point of view: there are too goddamn many people anyway.I will be surprised if, before long, we will be tested daily. Sensors will be installed ubiquitously in those theft detection pillars that span retail and library exits. Ring a bell, lose your life. Dealing with these bugs will keep your mind off global warming and Iraq. Submit, submit to all of it.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #5 posted by RasAric on August 24, 2003 at 16:24:50 PT:

Navy BS
One sentence reads:Under the Navy's screening program, sailors are subject to two possible tests each year.Then a couple sentences later reads:Moore said during the nearly six years he has been in uniform he can't recall how many tests he has had to take since there were so many. "Last year alone I think I was tested at least three times," Moore said.So is it maybe twice a year or is it at least 3 times(or more)? Get your story straight. Then again, I suppose having a straight story is not that easy when your encouraged to be a drunk.
impeach bush here
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #4 posted by Dan B on August 24, 2003 at 12:49:01 PT

Military Drug Testing 
The fact is that the military still allows copious alcohol and tobacco use. The Army (and, I assume, other branches of the military) has long been in the habit of taking smoking breaks ("Smoke 'em if you've got 'em"), and it wasn't all that long ago that cigarettes were packaged with MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). As for alcohol abuse, it is rampant throughout the military. In the Army alcohol abuse is daily, and in the Navy alcohol binges are part and parcel of shore leave.Make no mistake, the military drug problem is alive and well. They just want to make sure that the soldiers (not to mention civilians) are taking the government-sanctioned most dangerous drugs.Effective? Well, if that's the effect they want to achieve, I suppose so.Dan B
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 24, 2003 at 11:26:45 PT

Motavation 
I'm not sure I can answer your question but I believe this. I believe that if a soldier would test hot they would offer them to go somewhere where no one wants to go like Iraq maybe. That is just my thoughts and no facts to back this up at all. Just an opinion.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #2 posted by Petard on August 24, 2003 at 11:24:15 PT

less mj use is all
Perhaps more sailors are simply using harder drugs that either take smaller amounts that register under the limits and/or stay in their system less time could be the reason for the declining failure piss test rate? Just what the world needs, instead of a mildly stoned toking sailor at the controls of multi billion dollar WMD we now have more heavily stoned, perhaps even hallucinating, sailors in control of WMD. I feel so much safer now, don't you?
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #1 posted by Motavation on August 24, 2003 at 11:15:53 PT:

Lot's of numbers are being thrown around but
Why isn't there a number to how many sailors were given a Dishonorable Discharge?"Navy Anti-Drug War Proves Effective" Compared to what?Effective at issuing Dishonorable Discharges?The Navy says, "All personnel found guilty of a single incident of drug use must be processed for administrative separation."Fancy words for saying Dishonorable Discharge
[ Post Comment ]





  Post Comment