OTTAWA — Two major military bases and a navy frigate are hot spots for illegal drug use by members of the Canadian Forces, internal reports suggest.

Urine tests conducted at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, north of Quebec City, in June and November last year found 51 people who tested positive for cocaine, 54 testing positive for marijuana and several for amphetamines.

At Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ont., tests in January last year found 13 cocaine users, 16 marijuana users and three with opiates in their urine.

And on the navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec, based in Halifax, urine tests in June and July last year found 10 sailors with marijuana in their systems. The tests were conducted shortly before the frigate sailed on a NATO deployment.

The findings are part of a program of mandatory drug tests for so-called "safety sensitive" occupations. That includes everyone being deployed to Afghanistan, as well as submariners, divers and a few other specialized personnel.

Summary statistics for the program show that 170 members tested positive for illegal drugs between January and July last year, out of 5,920 people tested, or about three per cent of the total.

Half were caught with marijuana in their systems, and a third with cocaine. The rest had amphetamines, opiates and PCP in their urine.

The levels are far below abuse rates in the general population, and have been dropping in recent years as more soldiers bound for Afghanistan understand they have to pass the test before being sent overseas.

The Canadian Press obtained 2008 test results from dozens of military locations across Canada, through the Access to Information Act.

Individual identities are censored to protect privacy, though the documents show most drug abuse is at the master corporal rank or below.

Of all the locations cited in the documents, only Valcartier, Petawawa and HMCS Ville de Quebec had significant clusters of drug users. The two large bases have been rotating personnel into Afghanistan, with Valcartier soldiers currently based in Kandahar Province.

HMCS Ville de Quebec was required to undergo "safety sensitive" drug-testing because it was deployed to the Middle East last summer as part of a NATO mission.

The "safety sensitive" program results cannot be used as evidence in court, but the military follows up on positive tests with medical assessments, counselling and, if necessary, discharge from the military.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces said that since "safety sensitive" testing was begun for Task Force Afghanistan in 2006, the percentage of individuals who have tested positive has decreased with each rotation.

"Testing for ROTO 3, which was deployed in spring 2007, saw 4.3 per cent of soldiers test positive, whereas ROTO 6, which deployed in fall 2008, found 1.8 per cent of soldiers tested positive," Carole Brown said in an email response to questions.

"Illicit drug use impairs operational readiness and is not compatible with the CF mission."

The military was not able to indicate immediately whether disciplinary or other action was taken for the cases uncovered at Valcartier, Petawawa or Ville de Quebec.

The Canadian Forces also have a parallel blind drug-testing program, which surveys a wider sample of members who are not in sensitive roles. Results released last year showed about 6.5 per cent of naval personnel and five per cent of army personnel tested positive for illegal drugs in that program.

The blind tests, begun in December 2007, do not record the identities of members, who are compelled to provide samples in random visits to their workplaces. The military says the rates from the blind tests so far show drug abuse at about half the rate of the general population.

In early 2006, a military sting operation on a coastal patrol ship based in Esquimalt, B.C., resulted in cocaine and marijuana charges against half a dozen sailors.