Socal, ignore him, the good captain has rather narrow, reactionary and often downright nasty views - see Jet Blast for more details.
WHat you have uncovered is a serious issue. The CAA testing for drugs may open a whole can of worms.
There is absolutely no excuse in my mind of a pilot being under the influence of any ingested substance could jeapardise a pilot's ability to fly. Legal or not. As has been said, 'the influence' may actaully last a lot longer than you think.
That leaves the interesting case of dabblings well in the past, whether regretted or not. While I personally think that past transgressions that are definitely in the past should be OK, others may say that even though it is ancient history it shows a certain character trait that may be incompatible with flying.
I guess the jury's still out.
[This message has been edited by ALKIN Hold (edited 02 November 2000).]