Air Force To Expand Drug Testing

The Air Force plans to expand its drug testing program to look for commonly-abused prescription medications. The changes would take place starting in May. Airmen won't notice any difference, because the urine samples they already provide will go through extra lab tests. The Air Force said it was conducting the tests in response to troubling trends in the misuse of prescription painkillers, which it said were replacing marijuana as the top gateway drug. DoD surveys showed just 2 percent of servicemembers reported abusing prescription drugs in 2002. By 2008, that figure rose to 17 percent. The service offers prevention and treatment services to airmen who voluntarily disclose a drug addiction, but those protections go away if a servicemember is ordered to take a drug test.