Painkillers to be included in Army drug tests - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Painkillers to be included in Army drug tests

Expanded drug testing in the Army will begin May 1, and tests for other drugs such as Valium, spice and bath salts could be in the works, as well.

On May 1, the Army will begin testing soldiers for hydrocodone and hydromorphone, which can be found in painkillers such as Vicodin, Lorcet and Lortab.

The goal is to be testing all urinalysis samples for those drugs by October, said Lt. Col. Shaun Bailey, chief of the drug testing branch at the Army Center for Substance Abuse Programs.

The Defense Department issued a memo Jan. 30 announcing the change, which reflects a growing concern about prescription drug abuse.

Twenty-one percent of soldiers involved in illegal drug use in fiscal 2011 were abusing prescription drugs, according to an Army report.

In addition, between 2009 and 2011, 142 of 197 drug-related undetermined or accidental deaths involved prescription drugs.

“Prescription drug abuse is serious, it’s dangerous,” Bailey said, adding that soldiers are encouraged to self-refer to the Army Substance Abuse Program to get help.

“We’re trying to educate in front of enforcement,” he said. “It’s widely perceived that the criminality is not there because people get [prescription drugs] from the pharmacy, and that we don’t bring home street drugs from the pharmacy, we bring home good drugs from the pharmacy.”

Soldiers who sign up for help will be protected under the Army’s limited-use policy, which bars commanders from penalizing soldiers for drug abuse if they’re actively seeking help, Bailey said.

“The point is to take care of soldiers,” he said. “We want them to get help. We want to treat them and return them to their formations. We don’t want soldiers to think we’re trying to set them up. We want them to get help, and the limited-use policy protects them while they’re seeking help.”

Once the new testing gets underway, soldiers with valid prescriptions for hydrocodone will not be penalized if they test positive for the drug, Bailey said.

“As the test is completed, if it’s positive it is referred to a medical review officer who looks at the soldier’s record,” he said. “If the soldier has a valid prescription, he’s covered. If the prescription is expired, it’s the same as not having it.”

The Army also plans to start testing for benzodiazepines sometime next year.

Benzodiazepines are psychoactive drugs — for example, Valium and Xanax — prescribed for symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia.

“We do not have a test ready to go yet for benzodiazepine,” Bailey said. “Part of it is making sure we have a high-quality, production-rate-ready test. There’s a goal to add benzodiazepine, but it would not be this fiscal year.”

The Army conducted 2.1 million urinalysis tests last year, Bailey said, and the accuracy of the tests is critical to protecting soldiers’ rights.

“We take very seriously a positive result, so we’re very careful about expanding any kind of testing regimen,” he said. “When soldiers are subjected to a random drug test, we have the view that we have a high responsibility to safeguard their rights.”

Two other drugs the Army and Defense Department are eyeing are spice, which contains synthetic cannabinoids, and bath salts, which are amphetamine-like compounds.

In March, DoD will launch a study to try to determine how prevalent spice use is among the troops, Bailey said.

“That should give us some good information to frame discussions on what to do with spice,” he said.

The Army can already test for spice but only after a request from a commander with specific concerns, because the test is not accurate enough for random testing, Bailey said.

“The science is just not there,” he said. “Technology is improving, but it’s just not there yet. Spice is very confusing because of the novelty of it. It’s new, and they didn’t determine the active ingredient until 2009.”

The Army is committed to preventing drug abuse and helping soldiers who struggle with it, Bailey said.

“Whenever you add a new test, it increases the cost,” he said.

Every urinalysis test costs about $10.

“In this day and age, with the constrained budget conditions, if we’re willing to spend a little more money, that indicates the Army takes this very seriously,” he said. “There’s a commitment there.”