AN army regiment based in Catterick has the worst record for drug abuse.

The 1st Battalion The King's Regiment, which draws its recruits from Liverpool and the North-West, is based at Bourlon Barracks in Catterick Garrison.

Soldiers with the armoured infantry unit are currently serving as part of the 19 Mechanised Brigade around Basrah and southern Iraq.

Figures released this week by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) show that, before departing for the Middle East, 36 random tests on King's soldiers proved positive for cocaine, 11 were positive for Ecstasy and 24 for cannabis.

The total of 62 positive tests is more than all those detected in the Royal Air Force and almost double the total for any other Army regiment. The Welsh Guards, the unit which Prince Harry is tipped to join following a gap year and training at Sandhurst, is second worst with 35 positive tests.

The Black Watch and The Royal Scots are the other regiments in the top four.

Another Catterick regiment is listed in fifth place. The 1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, which is also serving in the Gulf, had three positive tests for cocaine, six positive tests for Ecstasy and 19 for cannabis.

There is also evidence that drug-taking is not uncommon even among the raw recruits.

Three young soldiers of the 3rd Battalion at the Infantry Training Centre at Catterick Garrison recorded positive tests for Ecstasy and 17 for cannabis.

An army spokesman said the Ministry's determination to publish the figures reflected its strict policies on the abuse of narcotics.

He said: "It is simply unacceptable. It is that nature of the job in the armed forces that you are able to rely totally on the people around you.

"Drug abuse is taken extremely seriously and the fact that the MoD is willing to release the figures reflects our zero-tolerance attitude towards the problem."

All the drug tests were conducted between January 2000 and October 2001; at least one soldier from every army regiment failed the test, compared with 101 Royal Naval personnel and 31 servicemen from the RAF.