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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon says it's going to start testing the troops to see if they are using synthetic marijuana, also known as "spice."
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steven Warren said Monday that before the drug became illegal, random testing in 2012 in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps estimated use as high as 2.5 percent, more than twice as high as overall use of illegal drugs.
Warren says that following legislation outlawing synthetic marijuana, use among troop use fell to about half of a percent. Nevertheless, Warren says the Defense Department is adding the substance to the list of drugs that it routinely samples for, with urinalysis tests among troops.
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