12th June 2006, 08:42 PM
But seriously. There are obvious health and safety issues at stake here, and most employers have 'being under the influence' as an act of gross misconduct resulting in dismissal. Construction sites are dangerous places as we all realise, and most archaeological sites are construction sites in the eyes of the HSE. Anyone who's ever worked on a railtrack site will also be aware that in order to get your pass you have to certify that you haven't partaken within the last 12 hours (if I recall correctly, 'hic). I think this is a common sense issue, and one which also touches on civil liberties, with a touch of nanny stateism thrown in. I would suggest that alcohol is a far bigger problem in archaeology, and in the world in general. The profession has a hard drinking culture that runs through it, and I would suggest that many site staff past and present would fail a breath test in the morning after another night down the boozer. As Oxbest points out Cannabis stays traceable for a long time after its effects have worn off and rolling out testing across the profession would decimate many units and university departments, maaaan. I must, however stress that my thoughts here are stated purely as an outsider looking in and are no way to be considered a reflection of my own (clean living) lfestyle. :face-topic: