It’s got better - it used to be if someone passed a cse, have a beer call. If someone got promoted, have a beer call. Spoirts afternoon or fitness test - run down the hill to the pub, get MT back after some beers. If someone appeared in the media - they had to buy a crate of beer. If someone died, have a beer call… Now I think it’s Being “caked~” not crated - but still not good for the health!!
When I went through pilot trg at Church Fenton, first 2 days were to get kit, books, fitted for flying helmet, etc. Mid-week, into the bar (no bar book admin done for us at yet), bar was heaving! Ten pints please, sorry, not bar books - that’s OK, drinks are on Fred!
Bargain!!
Next round (there were 10 of us!) - they came back, wow, drinks are on Fred.
Hmmm, thought myself & another ex-AEOp, something is up here - so we asked one of the instructors.
Fred had smashed in on a sortie in one of the low flying areas. The other 8 student pilots went a bit white.
Introduction to death (& beer) in the RAF. Incidentally, one of them was killed in GW1.
What about someone who has a couple of lines on a Friday night? It’s all unacceptable really. Weed is worst for young people as it rots their brains, leading to future mental health issues. Legalisation doesn’t work, whether officially like in Portugal or de facto like in San Francisco. We’ll never stop abuse so stigmatising it as much as possible is the best approach
Because the real harm of illegal drugs is the market. If we remove that criminality, and legalise it, then we can focus on stigma later.
Like we do with smoking and alcoholism.
Think of how much we could add to the coffers - think of the things that could be done with all that additional tax revenue (if it was used correctly )
But we are already paying for the mental health side of things, as people are already using it? Legalising drugs doesn’t appear to increase use. (And where it does, it’s not by much) Therefore, it shouldn’t increase the ‘impact’. But it means you now get tax. Certainly this is the case in North America when it comes to legalising cannabis anyway!
I personally think cannabis stinks, and have no plans to start smoking it even if it was legal. But I’m still pro-legalisation given everything I’ve seen so far from other countries/US states.
I would suggest that legalising drugs is probably financially better for the UK however is worse for the countries where they are produced. Is it morally right for us to feed Cocaine production in South America?
But isn’t the UK the worlds largest exporter of legal medical cannabis? And wasnt a certain drugs minister’s husband the MD of one of largest companies doing so?
But yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re not exporting legal cocaine.
And until somebody does randomised controlled drug trials, the chances of legalisation are near zero. If it was legalised the dealers and growers would just undercut the legal source. Legalisation would still make the drug at least a class B if not regraded to an A class.
A well known defence barrister on the Liverpool circuit frequently uses the ’ Your Honour my18 year old client started smoking Cannabis at 12/3, has a long criminal record plus a host of mental health issues, would you Honour not see to sending him down for the next 10 years for GBH.’
So you have in the UK Vietnamese illegal immigrants as ‘gardeners’ for the dealers.
The other big one is the day at a cadet camp and the visit to the dog section and the nice loveable floppy eared friendly doggy sits down in front of a cadet or CFAV.
Are CFAVs able to be mandatorily drug tested on station when a CDT Team turn up on station?
Imagine a Station commanders reaction if the former happened and a positive in the latter.
There was an incident while I was still in where a junior officer (APM) who wasn’t particularly renowned as having a sense of humour was given a potted plant as his leaving gizzit. Several years later and now a senior officer he was visited by a friend who had adopted a retired RAFP spaniel, on entering the office the dog alerted to the window sill upon which the aforementioned pot plant was growing!
When we were VR and not CFC officers, ATC staff were regularly tested when the army turn up to CDT on the Nijmegen marches. 10% of the whole British Military contingent except ATC NCOs and cadets were tested. This meant about 5 or 6 VR ATC officers were tested every year.
How many people here have never gone at least 0.00000001mph over the speed limit, at any point in their entire lives whilst driving?
Shall we kick literally every staff member who has ever driven a vehicle out of the corps for setting a bad example to young people by breaking the law and endangering others?
And the counter argument is invariably that you’re more likely to crash into a bus full of school kids speeding than not speeding, clearly, which I assume you’re not condoning?
I’m in no way in favour of legalising Cannabis unless it is for medical use after RCTs and prescribed by a registered medical practitioner under the Misuse of Drugs Legislation and suitably categorised even if it is as a class A drug.
The numbers of people with emerging lung and heart disease plus the numbers of those with psychiatric problems is rising, and soon we may need the old large psychiatric hospitals again.
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