Army drug use highest among Scots

The Army said it demanded high standards of its personnel

Drug-taking among soldiers in Scottish battalions is the highest in the British Army, according to figures obtained by BBC Scotland.

A total of 101 of the 610 soldiers dismissed for drug taking in 2007 were from Scottish battalions and regiments.

The Army acknowledged the statistics, obtained under freedom of information legislation.

But it insisted the vast majority of soldiers complied with the Army's strict code of high standards.

The dismissal figures from the seven battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland - including Territorial Army - the Scots Guards and the Scots Dragoon Guards accounted for almost 2.5% of soldiers, compared to 0.9% for the Army as a whole.

We have a high code of values and standards that we hope very soldier aspires to Col John Donnelly

The Army, which drug tests 85% of soldiers annually, dismisses soldiers returning positive results in most cases.

But Clive Fairweather, a former army officer who was also Scotland's inspector of prisons, questioned whether the approach should be reviewed.

"You don't get discharged from the Army for taking too much alcohol, unless you really get to problem stages, but because there's this idea that soldiers taking drugs are unsafe, drug-crazed soldiers, the public feel it's right that the Army discharges them," he told BBC Scotland's Politics Show.

"If, at the end of the day, you've got very few left in your Army and you can't do what you want to do, I think society's really got to ask themselves the question - would they give soldiers who've taken drugs another chance, perhaps two years later, when they can show that they're clean to come back into the military?"

'More' checking

Colonel John Donnelly said there were occasionally a small number of soldiers who did not meet the challenge required of them.

But he stressed: "We have a high code of values and standards that we hope very soldier aspires to. Inevitably there will be a few people that don't quite match that standard."

David Hamilton, a member of the House of Commons Defence Committee, dismissed Mr Fairweather's comparison of drugs with drink.

Mr Hamilton, the Labour MP for Midlothian, said: "If you take drugs then drugs are illegal. The issue for me is if you are on the front line in the services you don't want someone behind you who has taken drugs.

"You've got to be sure that the people you're with are OK and they are 100% connected.

"It's an issue which we've got to look at and keep on top of all the time."