- WASHINGTON - After a two-decade
decline in drug abuse, the U.S. military now is confronting a surge in
GI use of the club drug Ecstasy, the nation's fastest-growing illegal intoxicant.
-
- While only a tiny portion of the 1.4-million-person active-duty
force is believed to have used the amphetamine-related substance, a series
of recent arrests has focused the Pentagon's attention on the matter.
-
- Among the Ecstasy cases surfacing in the armed services
in recent months:
-
- Eleven soldiers in the Army's 16th Military Police Brigade
at Fort Bragg, N.C., were charged with using Ecstasy, along with LSD and
marijuana. Two were accused of dealing in the drugs.
-
- Five Air Force Academy cadets were charged with possessing
Ecstasy, with two of them drawing prison time.
-
- Four sailors on the Navy's aircraft carrier Stennis were
arrested on charges of selling thousands of dollars' worth of Ecstasy and
other club drugs to undercover agents. A lieutenant commander on the carrier
Constellation was arrested for Ecstasy dealing.
-
- Seventy Marines from California and Arizona bases have
tested positive for Ecstasy in the past year and the brass recommended
that all be booted from the service.
-
- "Ecstasy is dangerous and the military is taking
steps to" combat its use, an in-house Pentagon publication announced
this month.
-
- Military leaders are quick to note that only a tiny minority
of troops have been documented to have used or trafficked in the drug,
which is both a stimulant and mild hallucinogen, and is popular at nightclubs,
college campuses, and all-night dance gatherings called "raves."
-
- In fiscal 2000, 2.3 million urinalysis drug tests taken
by GIs turned up 1,070 positives for Ecstasy. That amounts to more than
double the number detected in 1999, and a fourfold jump from 1998, according
to Pentagon figures.
-
- Even with that increase, Ecstasy use still falls far
behind that of marijuana and cocaine by troops. In 1999, for instance,
there were 12,000 positive drug tests for marijuana use and 2,800 for cocaine,
military statistics show.
-
- And drug use overall in the services is a shadow of what
it was in the 1970s and 1980s, when as many as a third of the troops reported
using illegal drugs in the previous month.
-
- To combat the rise in Ecstasy use, the Pentagon is attacking
on several fronts:
-
- A new, improved test that is better at picking up traces
of Ecstasy is being used.
-
- Random drug tests are being given on weekends, holidays,
Mondays, and even the middle of the night to try to catch more recreational
users.
-
- Military dogs are being trained to detect Ecstasy in
living and work spaces.
|
