I believe that the deterrent aspect has already curbed some monster hangovers round here, so I guess you could say it's working.
They will have to test a reasonable number of people at a reasonable number of airports to keep that up, though, otherwise the 'Haven't been breath tested in years' argument will start to apply.
Actually, I
haven't been breath tested in years
Very true, they do have to keep it up.
It's just a pity that, especially in the incestuous world that is GA, pulling someone offline and potentially cancelling a paid operation due to lack of crew can have far reaching consequences - we all know what GA can be like - a pilot goes up north for a while, but before he arrives, word's already got around his new place of work that two charters were cancelled the previous year due to him being pulled offline for positive indications on a drug test. It's along the same lines as rape - the charge is almost as bad as the conviction, guilty or not.
I think a good solution would be on-the-spot alcohol breath testing, with immediate stand-down if you have a BAC - and drug testing as I outlined above.
Haven't been breath tested in a while myself... hmmm...