My husband had a guy in his unit who tested positive for cocaine and was on charges and awaiting trial, just hanging out.
They allowed him to stay out of pretrial confinement until he hired a man to threaten people in the unit during formation one day.
He rolled up to the formation in a car with a scary looking dude and showed everybody his gun, and told them all he was not going to prison. He also stated he would kill the families of the CO and 1Sg.
They put him in prison to await trial after that. Suprisingly.
He must’ve been a dealer. I had a Soldier come up hot for cocaine, but it was all handled administratively. He was a great Soldier, truth be told. He kept his head down and worked hard afterwards. I was told not too long ago that he came up hot for cocaine a second time. Total waste...
We had another guy in a different Platoon who was a full-on dealer, though. He did go to prison, but not just for dealing. There was another dirtbag drug-user who was kicked out of the Army who apparently owed the dealer money. The dealer kidnapped, tortured, and killed him. No great loss to humanity, but still pretty messed up. That dealer/murderer guy is now making big rocks into little rocks at Leavenworth and will be for a very long time.
Here's some crazy coincidence for you: that Fort Lewis Ammo Supply Point the article mentions? My company had guard detail on the gate for that facility, so our own guys discovered his body. Freaky weird.