I checked the BBC link. It says specifically:
British Airways is introducing random alcohol and drug testing for staff following allegations that a pilot reported for duty after drinking the equivalent of 10 pints of beer.
It is the first major European airline to introduce the tests, which will come into force next year.
A working group has been established to look into the form of testing to be used and it will consider breath tests or blood tests.
The claim that BA is to introduce random testing is the BBCs. I recall no senior BA personnel stating that random testing would be introduced. The company commited itself to look at the issue of random testing, but did not publicly state any intention to implement such a policy. Your beef should be with the BBC, not BA.
The 'endemic drinking culture' was a creation of the Dispatches program, which was extensively analysed and largely discredited on this forum at the time. Full of inconsistencies, false assertions, discredited assumptions, voice dubbing, time-shifting and other hallmarks of hatchet job exposes. It has almost nothing to offer an informed, sensible debate on this subject.
Heroin addiction? I'm not aware that BAC operated any BA flight, nor are they a BA subsidiary or franchise. Quite why that was linked to BA is a complete mystery to me. Might as well link JetBlue or Finnair to BA.
Virgin don't fly Madrid to Brussels, thats Virgin Express, a Belgian low cost airline partially owned by Richard Branson.
Then of course there's the Royal Air Maroc.
What we have there is a collected tale of bad behaviour drawn from
all the professional pilots in the whole of Europe, and any who fly into Europe. I've have no idea how many tens of thousands there are, but the total number of confirmed rule breakers numbered five. What sort of percentage is that, and does it constitute a significant problem in any reasonable context.
Interesting approach, no-one has been killed, so we dont need to change anything
No-one has been killed by meteorites hitting aircraft, but perhaps we should take preventative measures? What about alien attack in the skies? The point of this is that there are only finite resources to improve safety in aviation. CFIT remains far and away the biggest killer. If money is to be invested in safety it needs to be directed to where it will have maximum impact. It should not be sidelined into headline-grabbing measures directed at a small and
statistically insignificant problem.
Edited to add that I've had a quick look at one of the other links.
health20-20 reports on a fatal crash in 1988 in which the pilot had cocaine in his blood. It touches on alcohol problems in general aviation (which is totally removed from commercial aviation), and mentions alcoholism in US Navy pilots 1960-70 (nothing to do with 'Nam then?). However the NTSB state
no pilot of a U.S. certificated air carrier . . . . was found to have a positive alcohol test since at least 1964."