Navy Alcohol And Drug Abuse Program
Navy's zero tolerance policy making great strides - Around the Fleet - prevention of drug abuse by naval personnel - Brief Article With the lowest drug usage rates in 21 years, the Navy is making great strides toward its goal of zero percent drug use among Sailors.
The cornerstone of the Navy's success with its zero tolerance drug abuse policy is an aggressive and random urinalysis program.
In the first seven months of fiscal year 2002 the Navy's drug positive rate was 0.62 percent compared to 0.77 percent during the same timeframe in FY01. There have been 43,000 more Sailors tested so far this year than last year, yet 499 fewer Sailors have tested positive.
"Despite the success to date, we must continue to press until the positive rate gets to and stays at 0.00 percent," said Chief of Naval Personnel VADM Norb Ryan Jr. "The Navy's commitment to a drug-free Navy will remain strong."
Every Sailor and officer is required to participate in random drug testing. Each command must test a minimum of 10 percent of all personnel assigned each month and conduct one annual unit sweep.
However, most commands are leaning toward testing 20 percent of their command each month and conducting two annual unit sweeps.
Additionally, there are no waivers to the testing policy and each command must comply, whether deployed or not.
Effective tools are part of the formula leading to the Navy's zero tolerance policy success. Some of the Navy's strongest tools are abuse prevention courses.
Drug and Alcohol Program Management Activities (DAPMA), located in San Diego and Norfolk, provide abuse prevention courses to the fleet. The courses include personal responsibility and values education and training (PREVENT), alcohol drug abuse managers/supervisors (ADAMS) training, drug and alcohol program advisor (DAPA), urinalysis program coordinator (UPC) and Navy drug screening program (NDSP) training. These tools and resources are provided to help leaderships' deckplate efforts to eliminate drug abuse.
"I ask for your continued leadership in ridding our ranks of this menace called drug abuse," said Ryan.
For additional information or to obtain command specific training contact your respective DAPMA.
Commands located west of the Mississippi River and assigned to Pacific Fleet can reach DAPMA San Diego at DSN 522-4964. Commands east of the Mississippi River and assigned to Atlantic Fleet and European commands can reach DAPMA Norfolk at DSN 564-8190.
Additional information on prevention program is available at http://navdweb.spawar.navy.mil.
For more Chief of Naval Personnel news, go to www.news.navy.mil/local/cnp/.
Story provided by Chief of Naval
Personnel Public Affairs
COPYRIGHT 2002 U.S. Navy
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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