over reaction ?
I,ve been flying airliners for over 12 years now and have yet to see a pilot under the influence make it to the aircraft.
As one post above states the drinking in the night cargo airlines was common but within the stated time the drinking stopped , I did once see a pilot make it as far as the hotel lobby drunk but the rest of the crew put a stop to his nights flying.
As for the drugs this is also almost a non event on the flight deck in all this time I,ve only seen one pilot give a postive drug test and that was only for a bit if puff that he had smoked about a week before the ( FAA ) test , so clearly his judgment would not have been impaired on the day in question.
I know that the "exotic pharmaceuticals" are a bit more prevalent with the cabin crew but it is not a big problem.
The USA has random testing bit the positve test rate is very low and I think that the testing is driven more by the American tendancy to over react to a situation than by the size of the problem.
As for the 20mg limit that is about to become law in the UK I am a little worried that it is getting a bit near the level at which a person might have background alcohol level in the blood without having had a drink ( medical experts your comments please).
We all agree that drink , drugs and flying dont mix but I would not want to see a witch hunt but what I would like to see is the people who vote these rules into law have to abide by the same rules when they are working.