2 SA Flyer Magazine

REPORT:

CHRIS MARTINUS

Low ying is great fun. There is the

rush, the sensation of speed, the

sense of excitement. There is an

acute awareness of exactly what the

aircraft is doing, immediate visual

feedback of each control input and a

close perception of the pilot’s ability

(or lack thereof).

ERHAPS that is why ying enthusiasts are so

fascinated and excited when they watch crop

spraying aircraft at work. Flying at speed with

their wheels almost touching the weeds, climbing,

turning and wheeling back through the trees and

power lines for another pass is mesmerising to

watch, but it takes extreme focus, concentration and skill. There is

no time to ponder the political ills of the world, the argument you had

with your spouse, what you are going to do the weekend, who you

are going to do it with, or where. This type of ying has a high risk

prole that consumes every bit of the pilot’s awareness and ability to

stay alive and get the job done.

On the other hand, life is far more relaxed when ying at

altitude. Up high, the visual feedback from the ground is gentler,

the view far more surreal. The aircraft seems to softly oat about,

the ground is far away like some distant planet and life is good. The

risk factor is low and there is plenty of time to make decisions or

deal with faults or failures. Despite this, the pilot cannot allow him

or herself to be lulled into a false sense of security and must remain

alert to anything that may go wrong.

SMOKING THE WEEDS

That other kind of weed - cannabis, marijuana, dagga, ganja,

hemp, pot, hash or any of the other 1,200 plus names attributed

to that distinctive plant that has been smoked or eaten for around

5,000 years - has recently been legalised for private use by the

Constitutional Court. For convenience, I’ll use the term ‘weed’. The

recent legalisation has not only been welcomed by many, to the

horror of others, but it creates new legal and regulatory concerns

that are going to be hotly debated for some time.

Since more than 50% of people in the United States have used

weed at some time of their lives, even though it has so far only been

legalised in nine states, it seems likely that its use is not going to

slow down and will also possibly become more socially acceptable.

Africa, including South Africa, has a climate which makes this herb

is easy to grow naturally, whereas our cousins in places like Canada

(where it has also been legalised) and Europe, need hothouses to

cultivate it.

Dealing in, or growing weed commercially, is still outlawed

here and most other places, so it is not likely to be available at your

local store or supermarket for some time. That is not likely to put a

damper on its popularity though. What is plausible, is that there is

going to be a scramble to regulate its use in certain circumstances,

the most predictable of all being when driving or ying.

Weed has been totally outlawed in South Africa since it was

declared a prohibited substance way back in 1922. Before then, it

was a popular long before the rst Portuguese navigators touched

AOPA BRIEFING AIRCRAFT OWNERS & PILOTS ASSOCIATION – SOUTH AFRICA

FLYING HIGH

Up high, the aircraft seems to softly float and life is good.

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3 SA Flyer Magazine

shore in the Cape. The Koi smoked the stuff

and called it ‘daXab’, the origin of the word

dagga. Later, the Voortrekkers used weed

for recreation, as an ingredient in a large

number of medicines and introduced the

drug into the interior of the country where,

despite its illegality, its popularity grew

among all segments of the population.

HOW DANGEROUS IS IT?

Despite its prior illegality and

controversy, weed is a benign drug when

compared to the three most popular,

and legal, mind-altering drugs - caffeine,

nicotine and alcohol. The dangers of

smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol are

well documented. Driving or ying with a

goodly dose of caffeine jitters or tobacco-

induced hypoxia is undoubtedly unwise.

Drinking and then driving or ying creates

such serious mental impairment that its

illegality in those circumstances is fully

justied.

But the previously maligned green herb

is a bit more complicated: it refuses to be

categorised as a stimulant, depressant

or opiate and can only in rare cases be

considered an hallucinogen. While it

ts none of these categories, its effects

do show some aspects of all of these

categories. Weed users do experience

increased heart rate and reddened eyes,

but it relaxes other muscles. Generally,

users feel more relaxed, but some may be

more alert or even experience anxiety or

mild paranoia.

The sought-after effect is the sense of

euphoria and well-being that users get from

the drug. Some users describe how weed

“opens the lters of the mind” which allows

for a wider perception of the world and

more philosophical thinking. It is true that

most of the brain’s function is to lter out

irrelevant sensory information with which

we are bombarded and only let through

what is supposedly important. To widen

that lter creates a greater awareness and

perception of what is going on, but at the

price of side effects like impaired short-term

memory, since the brain is unable to fully

process the greater information load.

These effects are not debilitating

in the same way that alcohol and many

prescription drugs can have a severe

impact on judgement, perception and

reaction times. Weed, in general, does not

amplify aggression and does not encourage

the kind of unruly behaviour shown by

drunks. Although it must be emphasised

that weed affects different people in

different ways, the general conduct of the

weed user is mellow and introspective. It is

a rather remarkable drug which, despite it

having been used for thousands of years, is

quite difcult to pin down and clearly dene

its positive and negative effects when used

in a modern society.

Since its legalisation in several states

in the USA, there have been a number

of studies to determine its impact upon

driving accidents, but these have been

far from conclusive. Some studies show a

slight increase in fatal accident rates since

legalization, while other studies seem to

indicate that weed users tend to be more

careful drivers than non-users. Most of

these studies are clouded by the fact that

many weed-burners also mix their drug

intake with other substances, particularly

alcohol, which will of course result in much

more severe impairment of faculties.

ENFORCEMENT

Laws against weed use tend to be

frustrated by the fact that users cannot

be easily identied through the simple

roadside tests applied to establishing

alcohol intoxication. Weed users are able

to execute tasks like walking on a line or

standing on one leg without difculty. On

the other hand, tests on blood, urine, or

saliva will often show traces of cannabis

several weeks after use, but there are no

simple tests which can easily establish the

level of intoxication. Another frustration is

that the effects and their duration are very

different depending on whether weed is

ingested by smoking, eating or drinking as

a tea or other infusion, so the old ‘eight-

hours-from-bottle-to-throttle’ rule becomes

largely meaningless.

Our CAA is attempting to introduce

regulations on alcohol and other drugs that

depend upon illegality, such as having been

previously caught drunk driving, or having

been in illegal possession of recreational

drugs, but the legalization of weed

would now render that approach mostly

ineffective.

CONCLUSION

There is going to be considerable

discussion and many views about weed,

now that personal use is no longer a crime

– and there are going to be a large number

of views expressed and proposals made. In

the interim, a pilot who uses or considers

using weed needs to take responsibility for

his or her actions without much guidance

from any clear standards or authorities.

Since each person’s response to the drug

varies widely, as do the duration of its

effects, a great degree of circumspection is

required in making the decision of when to

slide into the cockpit if you have ever used

the increasingly popular herb.

In short, don’t take risks by burning

through the weeds or ying too high!

AOPA BRIEFING AIRCRAFT OWNERS & PILOTS ASSOCIATION – SOUTH AFRICA COLUMNS

ABOVE: Weed is not likely to be available at your

local store or supermarket for some time.

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