NEWS: Courier Mail - 18/06/07 'Militarys drug habit'

Military's drug habit
By Lachlan Heywood
June 18, 2007 12:00am

AMPHETAMINES are more prevalent in the armed forces than marijuana.

And more than half of the 115 defence personnel caught by drug tests last year tested positive to amphetamines.

The Australian Defence Force takes a dim view of drug use, but some restrictions on recruits who admit to past drug use were recently eased to boost recruitment.

Figures tabled in Federal Parliament show the army, air force and navy conducted almost 7500 drug tests last year.

There were 59 positive tests for amphetamines, 54 for marijuana, five for cocaine, two for valium and morphine and one for anabolic steroids.

Almost 90 were discharged for drug use and many more ordered into counselling.

The figures also show alcohol abuse remains a problem, with 47 discharged last year for drink problems.

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Drug defence slips
Ian McPhedran
July 23, 2007 12:00am

A SECRET report has slammed the military's top brass for neglecting drug and alcohol abuse in the services.

The Australian Defence Force's alcohol and drugs service has been operating without a national coordinator or training boss for two years.

Instead, the service has been in the hands of a nurse with no drug or alcohol expertise.

The review of the Australian Defence Force Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Services Program (ATODS) was produced in September 2005 and has been kept under wraps.

It shows the program was a major success, but had fallen into disrepair during the past two years due to lack of interest. And Defence has been accused of failing to act on key recommendations of the report.

The frank document, leaked to The Daily Telegraph, exposes serious flaws in the drug and alcohol program including;

 A CRITICAL shortage of staff resources;

 A LACK of support from command;

 RESISTANCE to change;

 LACK of training;

 A PRO-alcohol culture; and

 A LACK of communication and awareness

"While policy development has been substantial, one impediment to its implementation has been the lack of command support for the ATODS," the report said.

"Obstacles to putting training into practice included insufficient time and lack of support from command."

Defence has a zero tolerance policy on illicit drugs, but alcohol abuse has been a long-standing problem across the services.

The ATODS program was introduced in May 2002 as part of a defence mental health strategy.

Despite being funded until 2008/09 the top jobs have been vacant for more than two years. According to a defence whistleblower, the management of the scheme since 2005 has been in the hands of a military nurse with no specialist alcohol and drug expertise.

"There are now no alcohol and other drugs professionals engaged in the Directorate of Mental Health or the Defence Health Service," the whistleblower said.

"Progress that had been made in addressing the alcohol culture in defence is now largely lost."

When contacted by the The Daily Telegraph, Defence said a preferred tenderer for the ATODS national coordinator position had been identified and the job would be filled soon.

It was unable to attract any interest for the position of national training coordinator.

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Drug expert slams Australian Defence Force 'ignorance'
Ian McPhedran
October 26, 2007 12:00am

A LEADING expert on drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace has accused the Australian Defence Force of ignoring the issue.

Consultant and former head of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, Donna Bull, said the top brass lacked commitment and were afraid of external scrutiny.

And she questioned where the $300,000 a year allocated to the Defence program since 2005 had been spent.

"I am sick of Defence covering up on this and manipulating the truth," she said.

Ms Bull, a consultant to organisations including the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Australian Taxation Office and Virgin Blue, said the strong pro-alcohol macho culture in the forces was a major part of the problem.

She ran the alcohol and other drugs program as a contractor for Defence from 2002 to 2005.

"There has been nothing done by Defence for the past 2 1/2 years," she said. "There is a complete lack of commitment on Defence's part."

Ms Bull received a letter from Junior Defence Minister Bruce Billson earlier this month defending the military's record. Mr Billson highlighted eight achievements made by Defence against alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse.

He said a random survey of 1700 Defence personnel found that troops were drinking to risky or high levels at just over half the rate of the rest of the working population.

"This demonstrates what can be achieved through a combination of effective leadership supported by world's best practice intervention," Mr Billson said.

But Ms Bull said the survey was not robust and all eight achievements mentioned in the minister's letter occurred before March 2005.

"Since then there have been no resources and nothing done," she said.

Her comments follow a damning secret internal report from September 2005, seen by the Herald Sun, which exposed problems with the military culture and management.

The only activity since 2005 has been an on-line survey which attracted 1000 responses from the 52,000-strong workforce.

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