Drugs on a dz

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How do you test for someone that just rolled and is on the plane? How can you tell?



Oh... you will smell it.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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Bigway is probably just sitting there thinking - "Did I write that - or did I just think it. Hmmm" whilst he stares at his monitor .. that to him, and him alone resembles a large dolphin who he calls Mark and talks to every night before going to bed.

They'll have brought a bowl of breakfast cereal and and some cold pizza on the load with them.

LOL.........first laugh of the day thankyou. LOLOLOL
I use to think his name was mark but it turns out he is a she. She jumped back into the mirror though so i guess my food will be late again.

That's just my point - you can't test for who's been drinking either. It's acceptable for that to be on the DZ. How do you know that's not happening during the day? Many DZ's have a bar open all day long.

Similarly I can go home and get drunk at home before turning up at the DZ the next morning impaired.

The answer is to not accept people being impaired - regardless of the substance used.

Why bother drawing the distinction between types of drugs? Why bother drawing the distinction between where it's done? Those are entirely redundant distinctions from a safty point of view. They only come into play from an image and paletablility point of view.

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-People who drink until 3am and then show up to jump at 9am may well be endangering other jumpers; like anything else it's a matter of degree. If you had three beers over the course of the night you're probably fine. If you just started on your second case before you passed out, you're probably not.

I gotta point out that Betsy will notice that kinda thing at Eloy. I remember her not allowing a very good jumper to manifest first thing in the morning cause he had been up drinking til about 4am. He was obviously in no shape to jump and she stopped him. I like when DZs take care of such things.

i think vallerina agrees with you. what i understand is that she does not accept any type of being impaired. But then they tell her she is not accepted. it sounds like she is having the trouble because she is the outcast so to speak

>>>We just had an alcohol-related death in New Jersey; it happens.

So there was a tox report?
He was impared?

Maybe her being an outcast has something to do with this attitude:

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When it comes to hard drugs, I'm a big ol' prude. Drugs were cool when I was in high school because people in high school tend to be insecure. Grow up, people. Drugs are not cool. It is not cool to fill whatever void you have in your life with something so empty.

Nobody gives a shit whether you do drugs or not . . . but they don't like to be talked to like children. Safety is one issue . . . being on a soapbox and condescending is an entirely different one.

Kelly

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Drugs were cool when I was in high school because people in high school tend to be insecure. Grow up, people. Drugs are not cool. It is not cool to fill whatever void you have in your life with something so empty.

I wouldn't say "prude" but naive. This sounds like something a highschool gym teacher in 1980 would have said. I've never met anyone who tried drugs to be cool. If I did, I think their obvious suck-up personality would turn me away anyway.

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I believe an incident is more likely to occur from the beer across the community as a WHOLE.

It's easier to tell if someone has been drinking beer than it is to see if someone just rolled.

Not really. I've not jumped with an instructor(btw, this was years ago at a DZ no longer around) because I could smell they would light up between loads. Pot has a pretty distinctive smell. Also, a lot of people can reach a level of impairment with alcohol before they'd show anything. It doesn't have to make you stumbling drunk, just slow you down.

As for pot not being as impairing, next time you're up at Skydive Chicago ask around about Ron bouncing off the swoop pond.

I think it comes down to personal responsibility and just being smart about it. I know people who use some or drink a lot, but it's not a problem as they don't dive under the influence. And if you're stupid enough to do that, you're probably stupid enough to kill yourself in other ways. I watched Ron almost die a year or so before he hit the pond at Chicago just from being a little sloppy. It was probably the same sloppiness(jumping while high) that got him in Chicago.

I don't think it's the substance, but the attitude you take with it. And this is coming from someone who's practically a Morman.

yeah people do give a shit if you do drugs. Are you really cool to be jumping aorund people that are smacked up or trippin on LSD? I am cool if people want to do drugs, i mean i use to do a shit load but on the dz, well that can fuck right off. I will not trust anyone with my life when they are high, do you?

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you can't test for who's been drinking either.

I have a breathalyzer keychain.

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Why bother drawing the distinction between types of drugs?

You're right. I don't care what drug they're on if they're jumping while impaired. I just know that it's MUCH easier to be on some drugs and jump and not get caught.

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I wouldn't say "prude" but naive.

Ahhh...then you haven't heard the rumor of some of the southern dzs that the way to get the best coaching is to bring the best drugs.....

there talking about screwing

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Basically, I just want to have a discussion on if people think that drugs on the dz is a problem.

My stance: just because many dropzones have all sorts of hard drugs done after hours doesn't mean that it's okay for others to do so. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's acceptable. The more welcoming a dropzone is of after hours ecstacy/coke/speed whatever, the easier it is for jumeprs to go and do drugs during the day. I'm a selfish individual; I don't want others to ruin my fun and make me worry about stuff that shouldn't be an issue but is: skydivers on drugs.

Should dzs take a stricter stance on drugs to keep us all safe? SGC has a very strict policy that I applaud them for: they kick people off the dz if they do drugs.

Yes, I don't have to jump where drugs are common. I have that choice, and I'm well aware of my choices. Just because I can speak with my dollar, should I not speak with words as well? Where does an owner draw the line between keeping the popular people happy and keeping everyone else feeling comfortable? Should a person feel forced into having to "just deal with it" to enjoy jumps?

When it comes to hard drugs, I'm a big ol' prude. Drugs were cool when I was in high school because people in high school tend to be insecure. Grow up, people. Drugs are not cool. It is not cool to fill whatever void you have in your life with something so empty.

How much longer do people like me have to put up with others being retarded?

I don't mean to be a spoilsport, but do you drink?

Of all the drugs you could do, booze pins the "bad" meter. It has a lethal dose, is physically addictive (and can result in fatal convulsions during withdrawal), results in chronic physical damage if used in excess (much beyond the prophylactic glass of wine a day), throws a wrench in the works where coordination and judgment are concerned, and generally leaves a lot to be desired.

People who smoke cigarettes have been more of a threat to me historically than people who snort cocaine, so far as I can tell. Having a heavy smoker on a big way getting hypoxic and taking out the base constitutes a near-death experience.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not recommending one take much of anything psychoactive when skydiving or doing much else. I stick with OTC pain killers and eschew such things as antihistamines that interfere with operating machinery, etc., as a matter of course.

However, as far as illegal drugs go my major concern is that if someone does something stupid and requires the services of a coroner, it is best that they show up clean of anything that could be construed as contributing to their demise. People have been known to do enough dumb things without benefit of intoxicants that hoping that they will somehow behave themselves better when they couldn't pass a drug screen is an exercise in futility.

I have known enough World Champion class skydivers who were reputed to indulge in Illegal Substance A, B and/or C, but that they had the good taste to keep it out of my face.

Booze and dope are bad for you - that's a given. About the only drugs worse than ethanol from a skydiving perspective are depressants and tranquilizers, such as barbiturates, methylqualone, the cyclidines, any of the Thorazine, Librium, Valium family, and maybe Xanax. If a high dose of something is likely to leave you in a drooling stupor, you should likely avoid doing any of it before jumping.

Should DZs crack down on drug use (and I include alcohol)? Being a narc is a full-time job, and very few DZOs of my acquaintance have enough resources to spare to take on that task.

A public and enforced policy whereby jumpers and staff are grounded for reported consumption substances that affect coordination - to include Rumple Minz and Benadryl - would be as much as I would expect from any DZ.

I wish the pivotal concept was that of responsibility, but it's more about exposure to liability these days.


Blue skies,

Winsor

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I don't mean to be a spoilsport, but do you drink?

Yeah, but I haven't been jumping on Sundays!

I don't know. I don't know how to spot someone who just did a few illegal substances. How do you crack down on that? How do you prevent jumpers from doing ecstacy and skydiving? If it's something that doesn't have a smell to it, and you don't "act" much differently, what's there to deter jumpers?

you don't,

That's what scares me. That's what I don't like. It's more likely to happen at a dz where drugs are more common.

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That's what scares me. That's what I don't like. It's more likely to happen at a dz where drugs are more common.

Hate to say it...but it can happen anywhere Val...how do you know the dude next to you on the highway on a fri night didnt just drop??

You dont.

All you can do is choose the situations you allow your self to get into. If you dont like drug scenes then avoid them. You cannot make decisions for anyone else, only yourself. choose what you will do and what you will not.

I see more people jump hungover, that scares me. I havent been to a DZ yet where I didnt see someone jumping hung over. I think there are more drunks then there are drug addicts really...but that is my .02

Drug usage is a major problem period, not just in this sport. I agree it sucks that people like to mess with themsevles and ruin things for everyone else...but how much control does anyone really have over someone else?....NONE

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Plus, the way that weed affects a person isn't as drastic as the way heavy drugs affect a person.

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Hmm. I have visions of a stoned college student standing in the bathroom with a gallon of milk in his hand wondering WTF he is doing there. This is NOT the condition I want the people I am jumping with to be in. And this is not the condition I want to be in if I have a high-speed mal.

Listen I’m not a prude and I’ve been to almost a dozen DZ’s around the nation including several of the biggest and most prestigious, I know what goes on in the skydiving community and in the world at large on the topic. However, I am dead serious that I expect everyone on the plane with to be stone cold sober and that goes for pot too (which many people want to think of as an exception, however I don’t).

I'll leave this thread now before I say something inappropriate.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

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Listen I’m not a prude and I’ve been to almost a dozen DZ’s around the nation including several of the biggest and most prestigious, I know what goes on in the skydiving community and in the world at large on the topic. However, I am dead serious that I expect everyone on the plane with to be stone cold sober and that goes for pot too (which many people want to think of as an exception, however I don’t).

I'll leave this thread now before I say something inappropriate.

Don’t take life too seriously, no one gets out alive anyway…

I agree with you that everyone in the plane should be stone cold sober. But if someone has a smoke the night before then they will be stone cold sober in the plane the next day.

Also I found the combination of your post and your signature very ironic

***I expect everyone on the plane with to be stone cold sober
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Quit skydiving.


Seriously though, treat everyone as if they're under the influence. Always watch your back, and have a plan B in place at all times. Make sure you can quickly get out of any situation you put your self into.

There are other, non-drug related, factors that make the above statements relevant:

Inexperience will cause others to do things that may endanger you.

Ego will add to this, causing people to take chances so they can be a 'skygod'. Again, if you're in the area, you're at risk.

Stress will cause people to make bad choices, ones they might not normally make. A funnel just before break off is a prime example.

Stupidity. Sometimes people just run out of brain cells. It happens.

As far has hardcore drugs go, I am against those, however POT IS NOT A DRUG.....anything that is grown from the earth, nad not chemicaly altered is not a drug, I am pro 420 all the way and will always will be. I do not condone smoking during the day, especially during jumps, but once the beer light is on HELL YA! That is one thing I love so much about being a skydiver and being around dropzones so much is that the majority of people are open minded and view weed the same way as I do....okay you may flame me now...

You are completely right.

But, this is what I don't get, just because it's a "part" of the sport, should I just turn the other way? Should people try to figure out how to solve that problem since it is one?