skygypsy800

True enough, but I would really like the discussion to expand to be more about jumpers watchdogging each other, and all of us creating a culture of zero tolerance during jump hours. A DZO can drug test all his/her instructors, but if exp'd jumpers are using during daytime hours, well... Tandems aren't the ones going in with canopy collisions and low turns - we are. I would guess each of us know people who use on our drop zones. It's up to each of us to say, "Dude, you're high, don't get on this plane," or to tell the DZO or manifester, "this guy is stoned out of his gourd, don't let him jump." (Yep, be a freakin' tattle tale.) Or, to scratch off a load where someone is visibly tweaked, thereby yanking your $25 until the whole load is clean. I brought my situation to light because, admittedly, it has huge shock value. Ironically, my father (music business) was slipped acid in the 70s and had a similar experience. This s**t has been happening for a long time and will happen again somehwere, someday. But it is not the rule and, frankly, I am more concerned with some dumbass who just took a pill or whatever smacking into me under canopy and taking me out (or smacking into one of my friends under canopy and taking him/her out) than I am with ever erroneously eating someone's laced cookies again... guess my question is, for anyone who wants to answer: what can we do to make sure people go up in tiptop mental and physical condition, and not intoxicated at all??? Thoughts? Meryl

PS: Indeed have seen people get on the plane high as a kite or stoned out of their minds. I have smelled alcohol on people too- though it could have been from the night before. But, and probably the clean addicts on here can attest to this, true addicts hide it quite well. The inebriated state becomes their "normal" and they are, for the most part, functional... except maybe when it comes to flaring out of a hook turn/swoop on an 89SF canopy...

First of all, the cookie was laced (officially) with Salvia and Melatonin, though my doc suspects maybe LSD. it was brought by a jumper who uses. He says he brought the wrong batch to the DZ and did not mean to use drugs while jumping... (I'm just sayin that's what he said). The DZ is responding in a grassroots way, whcih is the only way things ever change anyway. Second, quoting the fatality report. 1/7 is a lot. And this is going to be another big year for skydiving deaths, as everyone on this forum surely followed what happened in Perris, Australia, Cross Keys, etc... for those who find that irrelevant, may I point out that the May Parachutist reported a death by hard landing, a man with 3000jumps who had smoked weed within 3 hrs of his last jump (toxicology report). Drugs have always been a part of our sport, but with people flying tiny canopies, more traffic in the landing pattern, etc... it is especially critcal now that people be on their game. I am not anti-drug. I grew up in LA in the music business and live in medical marijuana lovin' Oregon. Personally, I favor legalization and taxation. I don't use and certainly would never choose to skydive - or even drive - under the influence of any drug (including alcohol). Though I will proudly own the title "Dork," I am actually very smart in my commitment to safety. I simply don't want to lose my life (or end up in a wheelchair) or lose any friends because some dipstick decided to smoke a bowl and go jump. Smoke your bowl after the sun sets, for Christ's sake. Additionally, my mother died last year after many years of neurological issues. When I got home, still tripping, I called my doc, who was like, "Get to the ER, we want to do EEG, CT, etc..." He was afraid I was having a stroke or seizure. I do not get tested for work, but this hit me quite close to home. Finally, there has been a lot of talk about this letter in the bigger community (national, international) and I am thrilled. A couple of DZOs have written me to express alarm, and one asserted that he drug tests all his instructors (but alas, no DZO can taste test his fun jumpers' food). Another local DZO was defensive b/c people were wondering if it happened at his place - which it didn't - and feared it would damage his rep. (He also placed a freaked out call to Ed Scott.) I (hopefully gently) encouraged him to use the questions to open a bigger discussion of finding solutions; this conversation is referenced in this thread by a jumper friend of mine. People from the offending DZ are all over my Facebook page and they are promising to watchdog the issue. And THIS is why I wrote the letter and referenced my personal experience, as opposed to just pontificating. So that people could begin to talk about something that is going on at many DZs, and poses a great danger, but that is also quite hidden. Hope that makes sense to the folks on this thread. Blue skies, Meryl Lipman