Army blasted for letting drug abusers slide
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Army commanders are failing to punish or seek treatment for a growing number of soldiers who test positive for substance abuse, possibly because they don't want to lose any more combat troops, the Army's vice chief of staff has warned.
In a May 8 memo to commanders provided to USA TODAY, Gen. Peter Chiarelli said
hundreds of soldiers involved in "substance abuse-related misconduct (including multiple positive urinalyses)" were not processed for possible discharge. He also noted that many are not referred to the Army Substance Abuse Program for help.
What "worries me the most is that commanders feel a requirement to keep their numbers up" for combat deployments, Chiarelli said in a meeting with top staff officers Monday. He said non-commissioned officers told him this during visits to six Army installations recently to examine strain on soldiers and address the record number of suicides in the Army.
He says identifying and treating substance abuse will help improve the Army's mental health care and curb suicides, which reached a record 142 confirmed or suspected cases in 2008.
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He found many cases where soldiers tested positive for substance more than once, Chiarelli wrote in the memo.
At one installation where about a thousand soldiers screened positive by urinalysis, 373 had failed the same drug test in the past, in some cases up to seven times, says Brig Gen. Colleen McGuire, head of the Army's Suicide Prevention Task Force. Other installations reported similar numbers, she says.
"I am asking you to ensure that soldiers are provided the help that they need when they need it," he told commanders in the memo, "and that regulatory requirements regarding the referral and initiation of separation processing of substance abusers are enforced."
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-05-20-drug_N.htm?csp=34