The military has a zero tolerance for drug use. I would like to hear your lessons learned.

First of all thank you Chaplain, for bringing out the studies. I lived those days - my first day underweigh I found myself on the fantail with people shooting up openly & smoking dope openly within eyesight of the XO. Drug gangs and illegal gambling gangs running rampant. Once the testing started and discharges became the automatic answer people got the message. I watched men who were users of only "mary jane" and their slower recognition of emergencies and their even slower reactions. Hell, when I joined the Navy I didn't see a problem with the idea of have a joint at the end of the day. Unfortunately, there is no "end of the day" onboard a naval warship. Emergencies happen 24/7, from stem to stern, top of the mast to bottom of the double bottom. Being stoned does not make you reliable or more capable - in fact, onboard ship, if you're stoned you're a hazard to navigation. Ergo, there's no place for such things onboard ship.

Getting kicked out of the Navy for drug use needs to stay - we (the Navy) tried it the other way and it didn't work. People got killed just so someone could get high.......

I find it disturbing how the military has the audacity to pump us full of habit-forming drugs like sleep meds, anti-depression meds, pain meds etc. yet is so quick to boot someone for coming up "hot" on a urinalysis for smoking weed.

I am not promoting any drug nor am I excusing drug abusers however I do feel the military has to figure out a better way to treat our troops.
Check the block medical care, especially if it's not necessary, only promotes substance abuse.

The problem lies in the disease. It changes your thinking to irrational thought and grandiosity. So the mind scenario goes: I'll just use a little, it won't be enough to get caught, this is amusing/enjoyable etc, a little more won't hurt. There weren't piss tests when I started but from day 1, I knew the consequences and chose not to partake. It was new and had some glitches to be worked out but the program has come along way. And there is consistently the "it won't happen to me" mindset. Of all the soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines what are the chances of me being caught? Well, if your entire unit is getting tested to meet the randomness requirement, you are probably going to get identified. I lost some awesome technicians. As a commander, it was a difficult thing to one week recognize someone for job performance excellence and then read the UA results and inform them they no longer have a position in our military, give them an Article 15 and a dishonorable discharge. Their choices made the consequence inevitable.