British forces are being confronted by a new enemy in the form of drugs. Startling revelations from within the army, navy and Royal Air Force (RAF)have opened up a debate regarding the British army’s drugs prevention policies. According to latest figures fifteen British soldiers a week are being thrown out of the army taking dangerous drugs such as heroine, cannabis, ecstasy, etc. Various factors including the British Defense Ministry’s zero tolerance policy against drug offenders are having adverse effects on the situation.
With so many soldiers getting caught through regular drugs tests, it is a clear sign that the army is suffering from decreasing morale and severe work pressure. According to many experts the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have played major roles in increasing the drug culture within the battle-fatigued soldiers who take drugs to escape from the memories of the bloody battles. Furthermore medical experts and army psychologists have pointed to the fact of persistent drug culture among youths of some of the inner city areas of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester from where most of the army recruits come from.
To some this is a typical problem of the British society more than an army’s. It has been revealed in some of the leading British newspapers that the returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are indulging themselves in drug abuses regularly. Moreover, to prove the reluctance to go to war within the British army, many soldiers are deliberately taking drugs to get themselves caught so that they might not have to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Some have cast grave doubts over the Ministry of Defense’s zero tolerance policy regarding drugs abuses and the subsequent compulsory expulsion. According to those experts the zero tolerance policy is illogical given the fact that most of the drugs use is situational and recreational and it reflects the social trend as a whole.
Compulsory discharge or expulsion should be treated as a last resort. Proper rehabilitation measures for the offenders should be encouraged by the army before taking any drastic action. With such a staggering rate of expulsions in which around thousand soldiers had been discharged from their duties due to drugs abuses last year and the figure on the rise year by year, the Royal British Army is set to face the strain in the coming days.
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Source Link: BBC
