I hear it packs a wicked buzz. (to quote Beavis and Butthead)Cat Driver wrote: ↑Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:59 pm
What are the positives for using it that make the risk worth taking?
Just ..
It is also useful as a palliative for some painful medical conditions, most if not all of which would probably disqualify you from holding a medical anyway, so that part isn't really germane to this discussion.
For those pilots who like to smoke dope, it packs a wicked buzz. That's the positive. That's what is worth risking your career for. Seems kind of immature to me, but I also have other reasons for not smoking it (I hate the smell and it makes me feel sick) so I can afford to be sanctimonious about it, I suppose. Personally I think everyone is making a way bigger deal out of this than they need to. If "zero tolerance" is the way they are going with this, and I don't have a problem with that, then the course is clear for people who don't like to take the risk of ending their career over something I don't really think is worth fighting for, but that's just me. On the one hand, if I were to smoke weed on Friday, I'm pretty sure I'd be a-OK to fly on Monday. But on the other hand, most of the habitual dope-smokers I know seem, well, a little "dopey". There's a facial expression and a way of talking that I am convinced is more than just a stereotype. Just like some people choose to go on empirical evidence that for them, suggests it's harmless, I choose to err on the side of caution and assume that it's doing something to your brain. Exactly what it's doing is subject to endless debate and, since it's been illegal to smoke it up till now, there isn't a lot of research on the subject. Until there is, I find that I'm supportive of a total ban on the substance for people who use their brains to guide high-speed, fragile machines full of people through the atmosphere,over top of even more people. I'm really, really OK with that. As far as the idea that "legal" and "illegal" should be the only thing that determines whether you should be able to fly commercially or not, I might point out that it's not illegal to have no eyes, either, but it's illegal to fly a plane with no eyes. There are all kinds of other things besides "illegal" that can stop you having the career you want.