The Australian Army has denied there is a widespread drug problem in its ranks.
An Australian Army sergeant is to be discharged and charged by civilian
police as a result of drug abuse.
Several other soldiers have also been charged for taking drugs, with news
of the charges contained in an official Army newspaper.
The sergeant told the newspaper about his use of steroids, cannabis and
amphetamines, and claims steroid abuse is a lot more widespread within the
infantry than in most other corps.
A defence spokeswoman says the article was published to inform and educate
soldiers, and says it is not an indication of a widespread problem.
She says the army continues to have a zero tolerance attitude to drug abuse.
New research commissioned by the Victorian Government shows heroin
addiction costs the state $2.3 million a day.
The report by the Premier's Drug Prevention Council has calculated the
costs of heroin related health care, crime, prison and social security costs.
The Health Minister, Bronwyn Pike, says the report justifies the
government's spending on drug prevention.
"Now we're having a look at our drug strategy and making sure that we
invest heavily in prevention so that we can really do something about this
enormous cost on the Victorian community more effectively," she said.
Two British service personnel have been expelled from Kuwait because of
dissident views on the war in Iraq.
The two service personnel separately expressed conscientious objections to
the war in Iraq.
Their legal representative, Gilbert Blades, says the soldiers "don't want
to be involved in killing innocent civilians".
Mr Blades says the soldiers were stationed in the Gulf before war began but
decided not to participate after learning of limited international support
for the conflict.
"When all these people who were giving protests of an unjust war, they said
to themselves 'hang on a minute, what are we doing here?'" he said.
The Ministry of Defence has indicated the pair will not face punishment and
says talk of troops' reservations about their role in the Gulf will be kept
to a minimum.
