Originally Posted by Talk Wrench
....Would you like to have your safety jeopardised by someone who is as high as a kite? Not to mention the effect on sections, such as unreliability, possibility of theft from colleagues and so on. The individual may also be susceptible to blackmail, become a security risk etc.
No disrespect to yourself Wyler, but don't underestimate the danger that these substances pose.
Talk Wrench
And all of that could equally be applied to alcohol.
How many pilots do you think have walked out to their a/c the day after a heavy night before?
How many people do you notice stinking of stale booze in your section on a Friday morning? Are you happy for them to work on an a/c or do you send them back to their room to sleep it off?
Pure hypocrisy.
Having worked with both people who were recreational drug users and also people who were heavy drinkers I know which I'd rather be working with. The 'but its illegal' comment is complete Daily Mail trash. Do you honestly think if alcohol were discovered tomorrow it would be legal? Its about time the government did the only sensible thing it can do about the whole 'drug problem' and legalised drugs. A legalised product can be controlled and more importantly, taxed. Those taxes could then be used to treat the comparatively few people who are weak enough to develop an addiction, the same as with alcohol abusers.
In six years of performing volunteer drugs work and counselling at clubs around the country in my spare time I can count the number of users I've met who were abusers on the fingers of one hand.
As someone has already mentioned, drugs are now very much a part of modern culture and the people who use them are not all heroin addicts who lie in alleys in a comatose state. Many recreational users are valued and productive members of society, just like those of us who have an occasional 'sesh' in the bar on a Thursday night but know when to stop. Unfortunately for those of you who still live in the 70's we can not go back in time to recruit nice young binge drinking guys with RAF 'tashes and thankfully someone with scrambled egg on their hat is finally realising this.
Now I am fully expecting to be flamed to hell for my views, no doubt being accused of being a 'lefty' or some such but hey ho.
At the target in front in your own time, go on.