[DJ Taylor]

" I am talking about activities which do not harm other persons when practiced responsibly."

And what activities might those be?

I've never used marijuana, but I've worked with or around people who did, and from this I learned several things.

Marijuana stays in the users system much longer than does alcohol. The effects of Marijuana use will remain in the users system and affect his motor skills for over twenty-four hours, and alcohol's effects will usually be gone in no more than eight hours. As usual, I earned this one the hard way.

During the Vietnam War, I was making a heliborne assault on a mountainside when the pilot suddenly lost control and crashed the helicopter. There was a thorough investigation into the accident, and it was found that the helicopter crew had been smoking marijuana the night before and the pilot was still affected by it the following afternoon.

We learned the hard way in Vietnam that there might be a few things a person may be able to do after smoking marijuana but flying helicopters isn't one of them.

[Mikey]

Would you have felt better if he was drunk the night before and had a hangover?

[CodeToad]

“alcohol’s effects will usually be gone in no more than eight hours. “

Not even close. It depends on the amount consumed and many doctors consider the effects of alcohol to be 24 hours. For flying, it is a minimum 8 hours bottle to throttle, however, there is also the 0.04 BAC standard that now applies because we know 8 hours isn’t nearly enough depending on the consumption level.

[Fuzz]

I promise to never try and fly a helicopter.

[WayneS]

Any activity in which one only endangers oneself is not subject to government control in a free society.

I do not think smoking marijuana and flying helicopters is an exercise in freedom with responsibility. A person who engages in this activity is falling down on the responsibility end of the equation.

There are certain activities (e.g. alcohol, marijuana) in which a responsible person will not engage when they choose to be a pilot, police officer, fireman, bus driver, etc. A person who believes in freedom with responsibility will recognize that and act accordingly. But, as I have already stated, the fact that some people do not behave responsibly is not a justification to limit the freedoms of people who do.