I’ve done drugs – can I still join the army?

Usually, yes. Alcohol problems are more likely to stand in your way. Read on for more…

Drugs and drink before you sign up…

Can I join up if I use drugs?

Non-addictive recreational drugs, like weed, laughing gas, and poppers, are no bar to joining as long as they haven’t damaged your health and you stop using them before you sign up.

If any drug dependency shows up on your medical records, you need to be three years clean and also be free for the last two years from any health problems that the drugs may have caused you. You’ll need to show evidence of this, which could be a fit note from your doctor or an addiction clinic.

What about heavy drinking?

If any past addiction to alcohol shows up on your medical records, you won’t be allowed to join, even if you’re clean now.

Your medical records also need to show that you’ve not been a heavy drinker in the last two years.

How does the army check?

The army will check your medical records and they’ll put you through a medical exam before you join up.

Your recruiter will ask you about your drug use too. It’s up to you what you tell them, but if you’re later found to have lied, you can be charged with an offence and thrown out of the army.

Also check out:

…and after you sign up

What if I take drugs after I join up?

You’re not allowed to use any illicit drugs after you’ve joined up, but of course many soldiers do.

The army carries out compulsory drug testing (CDT) on soldiers from time to time, including during training. Usually, they’ll visit your base and test 50-100 people at a time, picking names at random. You can expect to be tested at least once a year and probably a bit more often.

The test is based on a urine sample and covers all drugs listed in the Misuse of Drugs Act. If the result isn’t clear then you’ll be retested.

To refuse a CDT is a military offence, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

What if I fail a Compulsory Drugs Test (CDT)?

If your CDT comes back positive, you can expect to be thrown out of the army.

The regulations allow one exception for a first offence IF you’re under 25, a good soldier, and still at a low rank – or if you can convince your Commanding Officer (CO) that you took the drugs without knowing (e.g. your drink was spiked).

Can I cheat the CDT?

Even trying to cheat the test is a military offence that can land you in military prison.

Some soldiers try to drink lots of water in the hours before a test to dilute their sample. In theory, this shouldn’t work, but it doesn’t stop people from trying.

The system is open to corruption. It reflects badly on Commanding Officers to lose soldiers from their unit for any reason – so a CDT-positive soldier who’s considered good value for the army may find it easier to convince their CO that their drink was spiked. Since the CDT testing team has to give the CO 24 hours’ notice of their visit, Sergeant Majors who know which soldiers are likely to get caught can make sure they’re not on the base that day, or they may make sure that the randomness of the roll call for the test isn’t so random after all. These examples are all from soldiers’ own stories.

Can I deliberately fail a CDT to get out of the army?

After the first few months of being in the army, your contract locks you in for several years with no right to leave. Some soldiers just don’t want to wait that long, and to get out they deliberately fail a CDT test – or they just stop caring about it. (Also check out: Can you leave the army if you don’t like it?)

If you’re in the army now and thinking of doing this, be very careful – it means a ‘dishonourable discharge’, which might make it hard to get a job afterwards. If you’re sure you want to leave, check out the leaving the army pages first – you might have a better option.

So the army doesn’t have a drug and drinking culture after all?

Despite the tests, drugs are widely used in the British army, which also has a heavy-drinking culture.

In part, testing may have made matters worse. Since some soft drugs like cannabis can be detected in urine up to a month after taking it, many soldiers have gone for harder drugs like cocaine, which is flushed out in just a couple of days. Most failed CDTs in the army are for cocaine.

Heavy drinking, on the other hand, is not forbidden – as long as you turn up to work sober.

Can I find out more?

More on drugs and joining up is here (see page 4-L-2 onwards).

More on what happens if you join up and fail a compulsory drug test (CDT) is here (see paragraph 32 onwards).