I obviously see a big difference between having a ciggie on the flight deck and showing up plowed. For the record, I flew a fuel tanker for over a year with a captain whom I sincerely respect, and who also managed to smoke two in a 36min leg. I had no problem with it, and there was just the two of us (and 9200L of unleaded). I was more interested in making a statement on the whole mentality that defends a clear violation (don't fire him for the first offence, and hang the FA for reporting him) on one hand and advocates rectal violation as a punishment for the other.
To me, if you cross the line and decide to take the chance, you must face the consequences. My Capt could have been fired for smoking (probably could have blown us sky high too) but he asked first, and then trusted me to shut up about it. Yes I would have been a royal @ss to report him after saying "go ahead" but that is the chance he took.
Many suggest that the crew should have been kindly nudged into taking a sick day after showing up wasted. That would have been nice for sure. However, an awful lot of people would see the very act of showing up as being intent enough to commit reckless endangerment of life. A lot of those people would be the old blue haired Jesus freak types that call themselves "the moral majority" down in the South. They would suggest jail terms and some serious remedial Bible schoolin' as punishment for those fine young citizens even touching a bottle of Lucifer's brew in the first place. Look at life from their (sanitized and puritan) way of thinking--even if you don't like it. To many the choice is clear--fry those guys. Or maybe the rent-a-cop watched somebody get squished by a pickup truck full of drunk rednecks and had a nasty flashback, who knows?
I would have given them the nudge towards a little extra rest myself, but because they didn't breathe on me before somebody else, they are going to have to pay for their actions.