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4,000 Naval Academy Midshipmen Tested For Drugs After Two Caught With LSD

MILITARY

December 1995

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland conducted tests on all of its 4,000 midshipmen after two were caught with LSD (Keith Bradsher, "All Midshipmen Drug Tested After 2 Are Caught With LSD," New York Times, October 18, 1995, p. A18).

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service said the two midshipmen, who have not been identified, were caught outside the academy grounds purchasing LSD. Officials said it was "highly likely" they would be charged with drug possession.

Officials said that drug use is not a problem at the Academy. In the past year, only two midshipmen were expelled for positive drug tests, including one who tested positive on his first day. No midshipmen were expelled the year before.

Drug tests at the Academy are usually conducted randomly on 300 midshipmen every week. At least once every year, all 4,000 are tested. Midshipmen who test positive are almost always expelled from the Academy.

The 150-year-old academy is a training facility for future top Navy officials. It is considered an elite institution with a tradition of very high standards of behavior and a strict honor code. Misconduct at the academy made news in 1989, when eight male midshipmen handcuffed a female midshipman to a urinal, and in 1992, when 71 students cheated on an engineering exam.