Party becomes focus of probe into soldier's suspected overdose

CANBERRA: Defence Minister John Faulkner has sought an urgent report on illegal drug use by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan as an investigation into how a highly praised soldier ended up unconscious in his room focuses on a party he was at.

The commando from the Army's elite special forces task group, which has borne the brunt of Australian combat operations in the southern province of Oruzgan, was found collapsed from a suspected drug overdose.

The commando, who has not been named, was found in his room at Australia's Tarin Kowt base. A bottle of pills and white powder, thought to be an opiate, were beside him.

The veteran of East Timor and three special forces tours in Afghanistan remains in a serious condition after being evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre in Germany, where he has been joined by his parents and girlfriend.

Other soldiers in his unit have since been tested for narcotics, and samples will be taken from all of the about 300 members of the special operations task group, which includes SAS troopers and commandos.

Faulkner has also asked for a review of the Defence Force's random testing programme, while Defence Force Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston has ordered a commission of inquiry into the incident, and the Defence Force Investigative Service - which handles major and complex cases for the military - is probing the possible involvement of narcotics.

"I stress that analysis and medical testing to confirm the exact nature of the substance and whether it may have caused or contributed to his condition is ongoing," Houston said.

A further investigation has been launched into a party the commando attended before he was found unconscious and unresponsive in his room.

Although Houston said no cases of drug abuse had been found among Australian troops in Afghanistan since they were first deployed in 2002, the incident has alarmed the Defence Force. The ADF has a zero-tolerance drugs policy and conducts random tests that will now be reviewed to uncover any deficiencies in the programme, the extent of any drug abuse in Afghanistan and potential sources of supply for Australian soldiers, and new moves that may be needed to boost health services - including those for mental health - for soldiers operating there.

Reports late last year alleged that soldiers returning from Afghanistan were bringing drug abuse back with them, involving marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

Figures obtained by the Sunday Telegraph under Freedom of Information laws last November showed that, between 2004 and 2009, 653 soldiers, airmen and sailors had returned positive readings, with 341 forced to quit.

There are concerns that soldiers in Afghanistan could turn to drugs to ease the stress of combat operations that since 2002 have killed 11 Australian soldiers and injured a further 126, mainly from improvised bombs.

Houston said the commando who collapsed at Tarin Kowt was a courageous soldier who had saved the life of at least one of his mates in action.

"We're talking about somebody who has performed superbly in the operational environment," he said. "We owe it to his family and our people to get on top of these circumstances so they don't happen again."

Australian fears mirror growing concern in the United States military, which has tracked a rising incidence of drug abuse and suicide in Afghanistan and among returned soldiers at bases in America.

A Congressional Research Service study last year warned that despite some recent reductions in crops, Afghanistan continued to produce more than 90 per cent of the world's illicit opium.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said that only 2 per cent of opiates produced in Afghanistan were intercepted, with the Taleban now earning up to US$100 million ($138.2 million) a year from the trade.

Pentagon figures obtained by FoxNews.com showed that since the US invaded Afghanistan the number of soldiers being treated for opiate addiction had soared 500 per cent, with military goods allegedly being traded for heroin from Afghani suppliers.

The US Army Times also reported that the American random testing programme - which tests 16 per cent of a company's strength every month - was uncovering a steady rise in drug abuse.