Flying high

[Bill Greenwood]

The story on the news a few weeks back was of TSA or some other cops searching the private jet used by singer Justin Beiber and finding no drugs.
Now the story is that Justin and his Dad were smoking so much dope on another flight, that the pilots and the stewardess complained about the smell.
When they landed the cops again searched the plane and again no illegal drugs were found.
It seems like this is a waste of law enforcement effort to focus on one celebrity who is not an airline or carrying other passengers, especially since they are not finding any drugs. The real danger is if a frustrated TSA or DEA agent plants the drugs on the plane, as they certainly have in the past in similar cases in cars. I'll bet many if not most, charter jets carry lot's of liquor, but I doubt if any of them are searched by cops even if the passengers get drunk.

No pilot in their right mind would want to fly stoned, but then again a few of them fly when using alcohol. You never know when something would call for all your best pilot ability. I don't use drugs, except Advil, and there isn't any really good long term Unbiased medical research on marijuana use, so I don't know how much it affects you. I know a professional lady who has a chronic medical problem, high blood pressure, who's husband is a pilot and she uses medical marijuana, but she has to commute to work and she never smokes in the morning before work. I asked someone else I know who has been a long time smoker if they would hestitate to drive on it and they said no. I know I used to ski race and a number of the guys would smoke on the lift before the race, then go down the course at speeds up to 80 mph, and it didn't seem to affect their performance, just as a number of pro athletes use it. There aren't any great ski racers from Texas, and so for me, I had all I could do to stand up at 70 mph and stay out of the fence.

Medical pot has been legal in Co, for a few years and now all of it is legal, and as for as I can tell there in no difference. There are still alcohol drunk drivers going the wrong way on the freeway or running over pedestrians, or getting in gun fights outside bars at closing time. I don't see any such incidents increasing by people just using mj.