IS the stress of modern warfare turning our servicemen to drugs or does this reflect trends across the country as a whole?

That is the question posed by new Ministry of Defence figures, which have revealed that almost 1,500 personnel have tested positive for drugs since the beginning of 2006.

Although the number of personnel tested for drugs use is still less than one per cent of active servicemen and women, the MoD's random drug testing programme revealed 769 positive tests in 2006, which represents an increase of 48 per cent Of soldiers taking cocaine, cannabis or ecstasy from 2003 to 2006.

Cocaine was the most common offender, accounting for 423 failed tests, double the amount for cannabis and way ahead of ecstasy, 95.

The army had the largest number of positive tests with 1,397 since the beginning of 2006 compared to 98 in the Navy and 27 in the Royal Air Force.

Servicemen and women tested positive for illegal drugs are automatically given their marching orders.

However Desmond Swayne, New Forest MP, believes the apparent trend, reflects the increased use of drugs in society as a whole rather than soldiers' attempts to deal with the stresses of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Swayne, who is a reservist for the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, who has served in Iraq in 2003, said: "The only time I have seen soldiers taking drugs was when one was caught in possession of cannabis and as always he was sent packing.

"I would put these figures down to the fact that the army recruits from society at large and is increasingly prone to drug use since they were downgraded from Class B to C."

He added: "The army has to fight to make sure its standards are different. When you join the army you give up a substantial proportion of your liberty and you have to live under stricter standards, they must therefore regularly enforce these rules.

"Army personnel are under a lot of pressure but that is not the reason to turn to drugs. Soldiers are trained to endure these pressures."

Mr Swayne would however like to see longer gaps between tours for personnel serving in Iraq as well as Afghanistan.

"If the artillery for example is patrolling the streets of Helmand then they are not training for high intensity warfare. So I would like to see longer gaps in between. The rate of divorce among servicemen serving abroad is higher than in society as a whole."