I don't understand how a sailor like S.D. needs cocaine to function.
Should trace elements of recreational drugs taken outside of events be a concern?
Cocaine is very addictive, so he may not have a lot of choice without some serious intervention and self will.
Could you expand on what you mean by the question? Do you mean in high level competition? Any level? In life?
I think I would have a problem "racing" on a boat with a person that was high or drunk. Things happen fast and people can get hurt. On a boat like an IACC boat the pressures on the rig, sails and hull are immense. In a Laser regatta I would have an issue with someone racing on the course when high or drunk as well for many of the same reasons. I don't have a problem with drug testing, but what someone does on their own time, (or likes to do to themselves) is their business. The problem comes when it infringes on others. The other problems is drug tests can't tell "when" the person took the drug. Some hang around for days in your system, some don't. I think as an individual you need to decide what's more important for yourself. Get high and possibly blow my high paying professional sailing job or stay clean? For me it would be an easy decision.
Personally? I could care less who ingests what drug and when and how much.
For the purpose of this discussion why don't we keep it to alcohol, weed, coke, heroine, and steroids, and XTC, crack.
Any I missed?
Well, Olympic sailors are tested for other drugs. They can't even take a decongestant like sudafed. So I'm not sure it's useful to exclude any drugs. What say you, Chainsaw? What do you intend with this topic?
Here's the crunch. Most organisations have a culture of sorts and cultures have a moral element. Without a line drawn somewhere you do not have cohesion - the commonality that is required to label something a culture. It seems to be a modern argument that there is a choice as to what kind of morals you hold. Perhaps in the "old days" the majority all held similar views and the idea of arguing morals didn't come up much because of it, and certainly the idea of questioning whether you had the option of doing something immoral (and justifying it successfully) or against the "norm of your culture" wouldn't have been as predominant as it is now. We're going back before the laser was even invented now, but the point is to find a context.It opens an entirely different can of worms to remove people whose particular moral choices do not match a politically active sect of fleet.
While some of you might remove drug users. Others might remove those who are late on child support payments, or those who failed to vote in the last presidential elections, or frail old ladies, or bass players, or those who drive SUVs, or those who worked for Worldcom...etc
and to maintain the moral element of a sailing culture, you do need to police some aspect of competitors "outside" life - although in a laser context this is always in hindsight and in the the form of penalties, rather than ILCA representatives making random visits to your house to make sure you aren't taking drugs.So...as long as you play well with others during our events, I don't much care what you do with the rest of your life and I absolutely do not want the sailing community to police its competitors behavior outside the world of sailing.
Perhaps in the "old days" the majority all held similar views and the idea of arguing morals didn't come up much because of it, and certainly the idea of questioning whether you had the option of doing something immoral (and justifying it successfully) or against the "norm of your culture" wouldn't have been as predominant as it is now. We're going back before the laser was even invented now, but the point is to find a context.
Well, Olympic sailors are tested for other drugs. They can't even take a decongestant like sudafed. So I'm not sure it's useful to exclude any drugs. What say you, Chainsaw? What do you intend with this topic?
yes well that's the point. To have the culture you need the enforcement, and in the sailing/laser sailing case, if you want the anti-drug element of the culture you need to test for it/police it.
Is there an argument for drug use in sailing? Are there any benefits?
I don't understand how a sailor like S.D. needs cocaine to function.
Should trace elements of recreational drugs taken outside of events be a concern?
He had gone to a concert the night before, got so drunk he couldn't walk leaving the building (according to a mutual friend) and woke up that particular morning still drunk. When we took him to the hospital they couldn't do anything for him initially as his BAC was .231, this was 9 hours after he had stopped drinking.