The big problem with all of these cases is where do you draw the line-not in terms of alcohol units or hours of rest but as regards the job itself
In my business career I often spent months and even years trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube where lawyers had 'worked all night' to finalise an agreement which turned out to be materially different from the technical and commercial aspects it was intended for. Should corporate lawyers be drug and alcohol tested. How about criminal lawyers are they tested before going to court to radically impact an individuals life-how about judges
The story was covered in the Daily Mail, not a paper lauded for accuracy and objectivity and an industry where drinking is not an unknown past time. Should journos and editors be tested.
Politicians, isn't drinking actually subsidised for MPs ?
City traders, well how many times have city bankers f--ked up the world for the rest of us, does no one threre drink or use recreational drugs before signing up to sub prime mortgage hedges and the like..
To me it seems huge degree of hypocrisy over the likes of say pilots and train drivers being prosecuted or fired . Admittedly none of the people i listed can kill a couple of hundred people in a burning wreck but we have all read about over tired doctors making catastrophic mistakes, peoples lives wrecked by incorrect media reports, Who is to say someone hadn't had a few too many when signing of the spec on W London Tower block a few years ago. for example. Its hard to draw a line but I have felt that as a start any industry where some staff members are tested then everyone else has to be upto and including the CEO and in an era where people work very long hours more thought needs to be given to academic studies that show that most if not all human judgement and mental capacity is drastically reduced after 9-10 hours.
So while clearly it is wrong to fly airliners and drive trains after excessive drink or drug use there are usually personal reasons behind these cases where the person concerned is demonised and criminalised in the name of sensationalism but people who have far from clean hands themselves.