drug/alcohol testing policy: effective?

"Happy Dog" wrote in message
...
"Chip Jones" wrote in message

This guy I know started smoking cannabis in college. He enjoyed it so
much
and so often that he started losing control of the direction his life
was
going in. As you might expect, he soon saw falling school grades, low
energy, no motivation, etc., the classic results of habitual pot use.
It
was fun (he says), but it was a dead end. To steer his ship down a
straighter, narrower channel, this guy walked into a recruiting office
and
enlisted in the Marine Corps.

And you're sure that it was the dope that was the problem and not a
symptom?

Nope.


Somewhere along the way, this guy realized just how damn bad drugs are
for
building a person's character. Like every controller I know, this guy
would
tell you that people who make their living in aviation safety related
fields, say pilots who fly under Part 121 or Part 135, or mechanics, or
air
traffic controllers, should be randomly drug tested *often*.

You know how many controllers? Are you saying there's a consensus on
this?

I know, quite literally, over five hundred controllers. I have also served
as a union drug testing rep for NATCA. I am saying that this opinion is the
overwhelming consensus on this in 100% of the controllers whose hands I held
while they were peeing in a bottle. How about you, Spiccoli?


It's an air
safety thing. You don't want unmotivated, low-energy, maybe
high-as-a-kite
folks playing around with airplanes that will be carrying passengers.
The
problem with drugs is that you can't always know when a person is high,
or
when drug use is affecting critical safety skills like judgment or
coordination.

So what? Critical safety skills *are* an issue and *can* be tested. If
that's your point, then drug testing isn't the way to go. You can't
always
know lots of things about people. Nor should you. There are lots of
highly
motivated people who smoke pot.

Ok brother, lay it on us. How *can* you test for on the job or in the
cockpit drug impairment without a freaking drug test??? You can't always
know lots of things about people, but you damn well should know if your
neighborhood air traffic controller or ATP is toking on the occasional
number on the way to the airport or doing meth to get through the midnight
shifts. And I have no doubt that there are lots of highly motivated people
who smoke pot. They are motivated to eat, if nothing else. But habitual
drug users aren't motivated to give a rats ass about much more than getting
high.


No matter what the rate of positive on a random test is among
this group of aviation professionals, the air safety goal has to be zero
tol
erance for drug use.

What about zero tolerance for smoking, drinking and boxing? You OK with
that?

I am opposed to all forms of smoking, drinking alcohol, and boxing while
engaged in an air safety endeavour like commercial flying or air traffic
control. Zero tolerance in the cockpit, in the hanger or in the radar room
or tower cab. It is easy to tell when a person is smoking on the job, since
smoke emmanates from either his mouth or his nose. Drinking is also easily
detected while a person is under the influence of alcohol. Cops have been
testing for DUI for years, and BAT is very accurate. Boxing is also easily
detected, because you can either see punches raining on a body or else you
can feel it (at least once, if it was a sucker punch...). Drug use isn't as
easily detected.

I personally don't give a rat's ass one way or the other about smoking,
drinking or boxing away from the cockpit, hanger, radar room or tower cab.
Last time I checked, tobbacco, alcohol and massachism were all legal.

Also, while were at it (and I know something about this) the top
cause of brain fade in high pressure environments is personal strife.

I can see for myself that you do know a lot about brain fade. Sorry to hear
your life is so stressful. Good thing you aren't an aviation professional!

So,
maybe we should force all these people to keep a diary and randomly check
to
make sure they're not lying.


I'd bet a dollar a lot of them are reading this right now but are too
chicken to admit it.

I'll bet you're right on the money, Jim.

More like they're not stupid enough to admit it.

moo

I vote for chicken ****. Kinda like a guy who doesn't have the stones to
put his real name on a post.

Chip, ZTL