[ LETTER ]

Drug use rampant in military

At a news conference on illegal drug use on Wednesday last week, Vice Minister of National Defense Cheng Teh-mei (鄭德美) hosted a special performance by an acrobatic troupe designed to raise awareness of the dangers of using illegal drugs and declared: “The war on drugs has started.”

In recent years, illegal drugs have flooded campuses and the military: It has already become a national security problem.

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration pledged “zero tolerance” on illegal drugs and publicly stated that the government is determined to tackle the problem, while the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee on Monday last week called together the relevant government departments to submit an anti-drugs report and formulate an anti-narcotics policy.

Rather than issuing vacuous sound bites or hosting performances, government ministers would do better to roll up their sleeves and get to grips with two recent cases of serious, widespread illegal drug use. This would help to improve the public’s confidence in the civil service and give the government’s “war on drugs” credibility.

For instance, in February, in a particularly shocking case, a total of 53 bags of illicit drugs were discovered scattered across Ching Chuan Kang Air Base in Taichung, yet to date no progress has been made in finding the individual(s) responsible.

If this case, which has severely tarnished the reputation of the military, is not solved, then the saboteur(s) and drugs suppliers responsible will continue to lurk within the ranks of the military; who knows what problems they will cause in the future.

In addition, following the discovery of the narcotics, 20 military personnel stationed at the air base tested positive for category 1 and 2 prohibited substances: It is certainly only the tip of the iceberg.

According to publicly available data from the National Audit Office, urine testing on both officers and non-commissioned military personnel in 2015 showed that 773 people tested positive for illegal drug taking, of which 579 were army personnel, 165 were in the navy and 29 were air force personnel.

The nation’s national security apparatus should be more alive to the serious national security problem created by illegal drug use, which appears to have seeped into the military.

If those who are entrusted with the nation’s secrets and who work in closed environments are under the influence of illegal narcotics, it is more than just a health issue — it will be having a serious effect on military discipline, morale and inflict severe damage on the military.

Yao Chung-yuan

Taipei