Official: Air Force drug testing seems to deter use

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Official: Air Force drug testing seems to deter use
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, April 5, 2008

A few years ago, Senior Airman Heather Brewster’s recreational use of painkillers would have gone undetected by the Air Force’s random drug testing program.

Brewster, who formerly worked at a regional drug testing site at RAF Upwood in England, was convicted last week of illegally using the prescription drug oxycodone, falsifying documents and dereliction of her duties in the Air Force’s drug testing program.

The Air Force only began testing for painkillers, such as oxycodone, in 2006, after abuse of those drugs began to rise in the general public, said Lt. Col. Jay Stone, Substance Abuse Program Manager for the Air Force Surgeon General.

At the same time, barbiturates — pills taken as sedatives or hypnotics — were dropped from the testing list at the Air Force’s dedicated drug testing laboratory in San Antonio. Those decisions were made by the Department of Defense and also affected the tests processed by the Army and Navy, Stone said.

But exclusive to the Air Force is its “smart” testing initiative that screens junior ranks — E-1 to E-4 and O-1 and O-2 — more frequently. The program was launched in 2004 after Air Force officials noted a higher rate of drug abuse among 18- to 24-year-old airmen.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53845