The Army's Leaky Drug Screen

Jacob Sullum | May 3, 2005

A Colorado high school student reports that a U.S. Army recruiter "helped him buy a product to cleanse traces of marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms from his body." A recruiter in Ohio tells The New York Times that "when enlistees tested positive for marijuana...recruiters coached them to drink gallons of water before visiting military doctors." This is supposed to be a story about slipping standards, but it's encouraging that recruiters understand people who have used illegal drugs can still be trusted with automatic weapons and grenades. I mean, it's not like they're selling ceiling fans at Home Depot.