Drug Use By Airline Personnel
             Many things about our health and safety are uncontrollable such as temperature extremes, illness, noise, and weather. We do have control in actions we do to ourselves that we don't have to do but that could affect out performance. Our safety is compromised as a result of how we abuse our health or live the unhealthy lifestyle as we choose to live. Subjecting ourselves to caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs impairs our minds capability and our body's functions to fly. It is not expected or required to go beyond moderation, but some pilots choose to do so, which they self impose.
            
             All drugs and medication, whether prescribed or over-the-counter (OTC), are evaluated for safety by the FDA before the are released for sale to the public, very few are evaluated as to their effect on performance in a flight environment. "In the United State of America (USA) alone, there are some 1300 basic prescription only drugs on the basis of their generic or medical name. However, when marketed by the pharmaceutical industry they are given trade names, and there are about 7000 of these, some of which are the same drug under different names and some are combinations of the generic drugs. But the OTC, non-prescription drug field is even more extensive" (Hawkins, 1987, pp. 98-99).
            
             OTC is a multibillion dollar business in the USA. The hype of ads by the marketing department make pilots vulnerable to a quick fix by self diagnosing. Self diagnosing might relive the symptoms but cause could go untreated. Colds and flu's are universal conditions, caused by viruses. "It is recognized by aeromedical professionals that even an untreated cold or flu will erode a pilots performance equivalent to a couple beers and impair reaction time by up to 57 percent" (Beaty, 1995, p. 202).
            
             Hay fever affects just about everyone to varying degrees, depending on geographic location and type of activities....