New Zealand’s army scaling back drug testing

New Zealand’s army has made the decision to reduce its drug testing on soldiers. New Zealand has developed a culture of drug testing, with new figures showing that more Kiwis are being tested for drugs in the workplace than ever before.

Since 2008, at least 220 New Zealand Defence Force staff have tested positive for drugs. Most of those taking drugs were smoking cannabis, with just a few taking methamphetamine and opiates.

In recent years, however, the number of positive tests has fallen. The Defence Force has stated that drug use in the armed forces is no longer a great problem; the general public is far more likely to take drugs than defence staff.

Of those who tested positive, very few lost their jobs. The Defence Force only dismissed three people, who were were in the navy and air force. Only those who had tested positive more than once were dismissed.

Chris Hilson, chief executive of the New Zealand Drug Testing Agency, was surprised by this decision, saying that it was very unusual for a company to reduce drug testing once it had started.

The New Zealand Drug Testing Agency tested around 81,000 people in 2013, which was an increase of 20% on 2012. The recent growth in drug testing is mostly from companies that already conducted pre-employment tests and had expanded to random drug tests.

In 2008, the New Zealand army had a small drug problem and had to send six soldiers home from Afghanistan for frequent use of cannabis. This prompted an increase in testing, but the results show that drug abuse in the army is rare.