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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Police face drugs test
Birmingham Evening Mail
Friday 05 Sep 2003 Police across the West Midlands could face random drugs tests in a controversial new crackdown. Ministers rejected the idea last year but Home Office minister Hazel Blears has instructed the Police Advisory Board to examine the issue again after calls from senior cops. The issue will be considered by the Police Advisory Board at the end of next month. "We will be very interested to see what comes out of the board and we will look at the issue again them," she said. Ms Blears last month admitted that she experimented once with cannabis in her youth. Kevin Morris, president of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales, says officers are ethically-bound to accept random testing as they must enforce Britain's drugs laws. "We owe it to the public to show it quite clearly and categorically that police are not taking illicit drugs," he said. "I think we have to be real-istic that with over 130,000 police officers some will be tempted." But the organisation representing frontline police officers is opposed to the idea. Police Federation chairman Jan Berry said she wanted to see proper welfare and support for officers with personal problems. "Those personal problems could come in a variety of ways - alcohol or drug dependency," she said. "We drastically need an occupational health system that gives officers the support they need." Compulsory drug testing for the armed services was introduced in 1994. Since then, the rate of positive findings has fallen from five per cent to less than one.
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