More drug tests/ AFA will increase testing after probe

A top officer at the U.S. Air Force Academy on Wednesday said the academy will step up its drug testing in the wake of an investigation involving 35 cadets.

Col. Brian Binn, vice superintendent, confirmed the school has found evidence allegedly implicating 23 cadets in illegal activities or of knowing about drug use and not reporting it. He said 12 others were investigated and cleared.

Binn expressed hope that the probe is at its end. He said the 35 cadets investigated represent less than one-half of 1 percent of the 4,100 cadets on campus. Still, he said even that percentage is troubling to academy leaders, so they will increase the number and frequency of drug tests and start doing them on weekends and after holidays.

He said the probe revealed the popularity of drugs such as the dance drug Ecstasy, which remains detectable in the body for just hours, unlike drugs such as marijuana, which can be detected long after their use.

The decision to expand testing came a day after Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., suggested the academy should consider conducting more tests and academy spokesman Neil Talbott said no changes would be made in the program.

On Monday, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said he wants a report and congressional hearing on the Air Force Academy drug probe. Allard serves on a Senate Armed Services subcommittee that oversees the nation's military academies. Like Allard, Hefley said he expects a full report on the drug investigation but will wait until seeing that to determine if congressional action should be taken.

Talbott said Wednesday's hastily called news conference with Binn was an attempt to reassure the public the drug scandal is limited in its scope - and to point out that 12 cadets have been cleared. Until Wednesday, academy leaders had only acknowledged they were investigating 11 cadets.

Binn said nine of the 23 cadets implicated in the probe already have been punished for knowing of illegal activity but failing to report it. Punishment in such cases ranges from demerits to marching to confinement.

The remaining 14 cadets are suspected of drug use, and a final decision on their cases is to be made soon by the academy's superintendent.

Binn said five of the 14 cadets are suspected of using Ecstasy; four marijuana; three LSD; one undetermined but likely Ecstasy; and one Blue Nitro, an illegal dietary supplement.

Among those 14 cadets, one already has quit the academy and one, senior Stephen D. Pouncey, the only cadet named so far in the probe, is facing a court-martial for allegedly using LSD, Ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine and dealing LSD and Ecstasy. Pouncey has waived his Article 32, similar to a preliminary hearing, and academy commanders are considering whether to court-martial him. Pouncey faces 55 years in military prison if court-martialed.

"We think these 14 will hopefully end this investigation," said Binn, who noted no other cases of suspected drug use have been turned up.

The Air Force Academy conducted about 2,500 random drug tests in the last 10-month school year, with two cadets testing positive, one of them Pouncey. West Point conducted 7,406 tests in the same period and Annapolis more than 14,000 tests.

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