115 sacked from Defence Forces for illegal drug use in last 10 years

Testing is carried out by a special organisation within the Defence Forces known as the Compulsory Random Drugs Test Unit.

A total of 115 personnel have been sacked by the Defence Forces in the past 10 years after testing positive for illegal drugs, with the highest number of these dismissals occurring last year.

There were 11,381 random drug tests carried out on soldiers, sailors, and air crews during that timeframe, with a drop in the rate of testing during the covid years of 2020 (788 tests) and 2021 (388 tests).