29 Apr 10: CF Wainwright Pers "Arrested For Alleged Drug Trafficking"

[1feral1]

OWDU,

It has long been an inside joke (for lack of a better term) that "zero tolerance" in the CF is far from it.

It is extremely rare statistically in the last decade to get the boot right out the door for drug use.  There are three levels of disciplinary action taken against a member (multiple terms because they've been named lots of different things):

1. Initial / Verbal (ironically "verbal" must be written);
2. Formal / Written / Recorded; and
3. Counselling and Probation.
(Level 4 if there were one would be release from the CF).

Usually something like a Drunk Driving charge will land someone on level 2.  Something like poor performance at work will be level 1 to start.  Theoretically things can be serious to send a member to immediate release such as drug use because it's "zero tolerance", but the vast majority of cases I have seen have gone to L3 and the member has stayed in the forces.

It's not rank dependent either.  Three years ago a deploying infantry officer failed his drug test and was kicked off the tour, but was actively employed on the rear party and not released.

Hey PM, thank goodness its zero tolerance here, seen it in action many times.  :nod:


Hey Tess, those 'chicks' are sure ugly. It would have to be a very VERY dark night and/or a very VERY long deployment both scenerios fueled by my 'fren' Jack  ;D

Cheers,

Wes

 

[SeanNewman]

I also strategicaly use the bunk / floor when tired on flights....... ;D

We don't really have that option in the Army while on foot 

Although I would pay to hear a platoon commander say "We've been walking all night and still have a long way to go, I think I'll have some troops carry me the rest of the way on a stretcher so I can get some rack and be fresh for H Hour".

 

[OldSolduer]

Awww....come on...that one on the left hand side with the constipated look is just your type.....mind, not your fantasy, your type..... ;D

Are you saying I'm full of crap? LOL ;D

 

[GAP]

Are you saying I'm full of crap? LOL ;D

I wouldn't have said that.....no sireee.....not me.....never......well.......................... ;D

 

[McG]

There are three levels of disciplinary action taken against a member (multiple terms because they've been named lots of different things):

1. Initial / Verbal (ironically "verbal" must be written);
2. Formal / Written / Recorded; and
3. Counselling and Probation.
(Level 4 if there were one would be release from the CF).

There are not multiple terms.  You are out of date, and should consult the DAOD 5019 series.  There is Initial Counselling, Recorded Warning, Counselling and Probation, and Release.  There is no such thing as Verbal Warning, Formal Warning or Written Warning.

Usually something like a Drunk Driving charge will land someone on level 2. 

No.  IAW CANFORGEN 092/02, the commission of criminal offences in connection with the use of alcohol is normally serious enough to warrant counselling and probation.  So, all drivers in a DUI incident should be placed on C&P under CFAO 19-31.

I recognize there is one formation commander who decided that there were too many C&P for DUI under his Comd and so directed that units would issue RWs.  However, this is not the norm based on national policy.  In the formation that you are currently a part of, C&P is being used as the corrective measure for first time DUI.

My unit believes the act to be sufficiently abhorrent to CF expectations that all those who willingly participate as passengers have failed to meet service expectations – they have willingly placed their own lives in danger and participated in the endangerment of everyone else on the road.  They will also be corrected with a remedial measure.

Theoretically things can be serious to send a member to immediate release such as drug use because it's "zero tolerance", but the vast majority of cases I have seen have gone to L3 and the member has stayed in the forces.

Going back to the DAOD 5019 series, you will find that a 12 month C&P is the minimum start point for remedial measures relating to drug abuse.  Typically, these abusers are also hit on the disciplinary side with charges that go to summary trial.

 

[OldSolduer]

Initial Counselling, RW, C&P are administrative measures, not disciplinary.

 

[SeanNewman]

MCG,

I'm at home on leave and couldn't remember the newest terms.  They have been called those things in the last, which is what I meant by multiple.  Similar to ISCC, JNCO, JLC, DP3A.

Clarify in the DUI, it usually ends up is Recorded Warning from what I saw 04-09 in 2 CMBG.  It's not my place to criticize my superiors' choices as to why they put the guys on RW instead of higher.

MAS,

You are correct and I was wrong.

 

[stealthylizard]

What has puzzled me about this, is how they were able to manufacture drugs.  Wouldn't routine inspections kind of take care of that problem?  ???

 

[Retired AF Guy]

What has puzzled me about this, is how they were able to manufacture drugs.  Wouldn't routine inspections kind of take care of that problem?  ???

The drug they were accused of manufacturing is DMT or its scientific name Dimethyltryptamine, which prior to this I have never heard of. Apparently DMT is a natural-occurring substance that can be found in various common plants like Reed Canary Grass. It has been used by various native groups to enhance religious experiences.  And apparently, it can be freebased very easily in your kitchen.

This site can gives all the info you need to know about the drug. He is the users description of using DMT:

After inhalation of a full dose of DMT is a single breath, the effects will be experienced in ten or fifteen seconds, usually before exhalation of the smoke. The initial "rush" sensation is similar to the feeling of rapid acceleration and may be accompanied by vertigo. Users often describe high-pitched sounds, which may be perceived as being insect noises. The peak effect occurs within two to three minutes, during which most users are stunned and speechless. Arabesque or geometric colored patterns seen with eyes opened or closed, similar to those experienced with LSD, mescaline or psilocybine are commonly reported effects of DMT. T. McKenna has vividly described presumed contact with intelligent "machine elves reported by some DMT users (McKenna 1991). Paranoia and panic reactions are probably more frequent following DMT adminstration than with other entheogenic drugs--a consequence, doubtless, of the extreme rapidity with which the user is torn out of his everyday consciousness and thrust into a swirling, screaming, visionary state. This makes set and setting extremely important. Ten minutes after smoking the user invariably feels a diminution in the effect, and by the time fifteen to twenty-five minutes have elapsed, the effect has dissipated completely (Bigwood & Ott 1977).

The writer posts this warning:

DMT should not be used casually, like a sort of marijuana. One should not drive or operate machinery under the influence of DMT or other short-acting tryptamine entheogen. The psychological state of the user is crucial. DMT should never be used if one is tense, anxious, worried, tired, etc. Most users prefer to commence the experience sitting down or reclining (the alternative might be falling down!). The setting should be sheltered and peaceful, free of noise and intrusions.

Here is a description of what can go wrong:

3 BIG Mistakes - A DMT injection turns into a "hellish" experience

"I had been up for three days and two nights working on a manuscript. That was the first mistake. The room where the "experiment" was to take place was a dirty, dingy, insanely cluttered pest hole. That was the second mistake. I was told that I would see God. That was the third and worst mistake of all.

      "The needle jabbed into my arm and the dimethyl-tryptamine oozed into my bloodstream. At the same time the steam came on with a rhythmic clamor and I remember thinking that it would be nice to have some heat. Within thirty seconds I noticed a change, or rather I noticed that there had never been any change, that I had been in this dreamy unworldly state for millions of years. I told this to Dr.--. who said, "Good, then it is beginning to cross the blood-brain barrier."

      "It was too fast. Much too fast. I looked up at what a minute ago had been doors and cabinets, and all I could see were parallel lines falling away into absurdities. Dimensions were outraged. The geometry of things crashed blindly into one another and crumbled into chaos. I thought to myself, "But he said that I would see God, that I would know the meaning of the universe." I closed my eyes. Perhaps God was there, behind my eyeballs.

      "Something was there, all right; Something, coming at me from a distant and empty horizon. At first it was a pinpoint, then it was a smudge, and then--a formless growing Shape. A sound accompanied its progress towards me--a rising, rhythmic, metallic whine; a staccato meeyow that was issuing from a diamond larynx. And then, there it loomed before me, a devastating horror, a cosmic diamond cat. It filled the sky, it filled all space. There was nowhere to go. It was all that was. There was no other place for me in this--Its universe. I felt leveled under the cruel glare of its crystalline brilliance. My mind, my body, my vestige of self-esteem perished in the hard glint of its diamond cells.

      "It moved in rhythmic spasms like some demonic toy; and always there was its voice--a steely, shrill monotony that put an end to hope. There should not be such a voice! It ravaged the nerves and passed its spasms into my head to echo insanely from one dark corridor of my mind to another. Me-e-e-e-yow~ow-ow-ow me~e~yow-ow-ow-ow me-e-e-e-yow-ow-ow-ow--the incessant, insatiable staccato went on. It would not have been so bad if it had just been diabolical noise. The chilling thing was that I knew what it was saying! It told me that I was a wretched, pulpy, flaccid thing; a squishy-squashy worm. I was a thing of soft entrails and slimy fluids and was abhorrent to the calcified God.

      "I opened my eyes and jumped up from my chair screaming: 'I will not have you! I will not have such a God! What is the antidote to this? Give me the antidote!' But as I said this I doubted my own question for it seemed to me that this was the only reality I had ever known, the one I was born with and the one I would die with. There was no future beyond this state of mind, there was no state of mind beyond this one.

      "'There is no antidote,' said Dr.--. 'Relax, it's only been three minutes. You've got at least twenty-five more minutes still to go.'

      "I looked around the room. The seething symmetry had calmed down some. Instead of evoking terror it merely made one seasick now. 'Euclidian nausea,' I thought, and closed my eyes again. I found myself on a small planet of a distant star. A spaceship built like an amoeba reached with long tentacles out to grab me. The center of the space ship was diaphanous like an embryo's head with a network of blue veins, flowing blood, and shifting cellular wastes. It pulsed and pulsed and whirred and cackled. I did not wish to be a part of this protoplasmic blob although it was far cheerier than the first vision, and so, as its tentacles were about to enclose me, I opened my eyes and escaped its interstellar plans for me. By this time I was learning how to manage--or should I say Escape from--the experience. I thought that I would start to call my own shots, find my own planet.

      "I closed my eyes again to discover a world of blue horses. The land heaved gently and the necks and heads of stately blue horses rose and fell as waves on the planet's surface. It was a land of perfect peace, a blue equine paradise.

      "But still I hadn't seen the face of God! I would make a final effort at ultimate visions. My eyes closed and I found myself looking through one end of an immensely long cylinder. At first, there was nothing at the other end--a trillion miles away. Then God came and peeked in at me. I burst out laughing.

      "The face of God staring at me from the other end of the cylinder was the face of a very wise monkey!"

Source: R.E.L. Masters and Jean Houston, The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience, pp.163-164)

The above description sounds like something that was torn out of a H.P Lovecraft novel!

 

[Tank Troll]

Holy Hell! I had no idea about this stuff. I thought this only could be found in hard crazy junkie stuff like Herion or LSD 

 

[dangerboy]

  Wouldn't routine inspections kind of take care of that problem?  ???

One of the problems is that fact that they manufacture the stuff out of common material.  One of the ingredients I was told that is used is Epsom salt, I remember when I walked through the lines and saw some sitting on a table I thought nothing of it.  I thought they were using it to soak their feet in, making drugs out of it never occurred to me.  We need a PD session on this stuff as I was talking to several NCO's and none of us knew what to look for.

 

[57Chevy]

One of the problems is that fact that they manufacture the stuff out of common material.  One of the ingredients I was told that is used is Epsom salt, I remember when I walked through the lines and saw some sitting on a table I thought nothing of it.  I thought they were using it to soak their feet in, making drugs out of it never occurred to me.  We need a PD session on this stuff as I was talking to several NCO's and none of us knew what to look for.

Information on the subject can be found here:

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dmt/extraction_guide1/dmt_extraction_guide1.shtml

 

[DCRabbit]

Why would anyone wanna do this drug? It doesn't sound like any fun at all.

 

[aesop081]

  We need a PD session on this stuff as I was talking to several NCO's and none of us knew what to look for.

That PD session already exists. It was mandated by CANFORGEN (09/43 iirc) some time ago. it is called "supervisor's drug, alcohol and gambling addiction awareness training". As per the CANFORGEN, it is manditory for all supervisors. The course has a MITE code that will show up on your MPRR.

I completed mine earlier this year. It was run by the health promotion folks & Wing addictions councilor. They had displays of what the drugs actualy look like and a ton of information on all of them and good information on how to spot problem individuals.

 

[Wookilar]

Comparing some of these charges to DUI is starting to get my dander up....
Manufacturing and trafficking drugs are far more serious than some dummy using poor judgement driving home (repeated offenders are different IMO). That said dummy will be lucky if there are not serious repercussions to the DUI. Just ask any Trucker that has gotten charged. There are supposed to be serious repercussions to any charge, especially a DUI. That's why "adverse" PERs exist.

If they are guilty of trafficking/manufacturing, I am hoping they will get more than a slap on the wrist. Those that got nailed for possesion/usage, will get the said counselling. Don't forget, untrained Pte's have been released for less than this. With the amount of people waiting to get in currently, I don't think anyone will lose any sleep about 9 missing Pte's and 1 Cpl.

C&P for all involving drugs charges is mandatory. It's up the their individual CoC to ensure that the conditions of the C&P are carried out.


Wook