US Air Force on drugs? Looks like it.

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Gives "up in the air, Junior Birdmen," a whole new meaning.

45 of 86 airmen since March fail spice tests
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 28, 2011 9:33:58 EDT

More than half of the airmen tested for spice have had positive results, according to the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.

Military tests for the synthetic form of cannabis began in March, the same month the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a one-year ban on five chemicals used to make spice.

The Air Force banned the possession and use of spice and all mood-altering substances except alcohol and tobacco in June 2010. Some bases have barred airmen from entering nearby smoke shops known to sell spice and other man-made chemical compounds.

AFMES, a joint agency that performs medical investigations, conducts individual spice urinalyses for each of the services at the request of their individual criminal investigation agencies.

Forty-five of 86 airmen tested positive for spice since March. In the other services, 164 of 242 soldiers tested positive, and 113 of 183 sailors and Marines tested positive.

These positive rates emerged from a population already under investigation, said Col. Timothy Lyons, top forensic toxicology expert at AFMES. The numbers are not indicative of rates among service members, he said.

Dozens of manmade chemical compounds can be described as synthetic cannabinoids, so their effects on users are unpredictable, said Buddy Horne, deputy chief of the Army’s drug testing branch.

“When you have something with no quality control, no inspection processes, the majority of one batch can be sprayed with more concentration than another part,” Horne said. “Somebody’s making a product to sell, and they don’t care how toxic it is.”

There's more at the link, but come on, people.
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