{"id":592,"date":"2026-08-12T02:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/?p=592"},"modified":"2026-08-12T02:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:42:28","slug":"air-india-phuket-flight-probe-marijuanas-legal-availability-adds-to-worries-of-airlines-india-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"Air India Phuket flight probe: Marijuana\u2019s legal availability adds to worries of airlines | India News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133167446,imgsize-72218,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/marijuana-vomiting.jpg\" alt=\"Air India Phuket flight probe: Marijuana\u2019s legal availability adds to worries of airlines\" title=\"Unlike simple breath analyser tests for checking if the crew is tipsy, the process of detecting consumption of psychoactive substances is difficult\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Unlike simple breath analyser tests for checking if the crew is tipsy, the process of detecting consumption of psychoactive substances is difficult\">Unlike simple breath analyser tests for checking if the crew is tipsy, the process of detecting consumption of psychoactive substances is difficult<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The legal availability of marijuana for either medicinal or recreational use in places like Thailand and Amsterdam has made life difficult for airlines flying there. The reason: Unlike simple breath analyser tests for checking if the crew is tipsy, the process of detecting consumption of psychoactive substances is difficult.<!-- --> The only way to deter their consumption by flight crew members, say officials across multiple airlines, is to increase random dope testing, as there substances usually remain present in the body for much longer than alcohol.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"3\"\/>The concern across airlines globally to check this stems from the fact that operating a flight \u201cunder the influence of any psychoactive substance might render (licensed personnel like pilots) unable to safely and properly exercise\u201d perform their duty, as per the International Civil Aviation Organisation.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"7\"\/>Possibly the most infamous case of this was a US carrier\u2019s off-duty pilot travelling on the jump seat (extra seat behind pilots) in the flight deck trying to shut down the engines. This off-duty pilot had reportedly taken psychedelic mushrooms two days before the incident and hadn\u2019t slept in 48 hours. \u201cThis is a challenge globally. Often the tests are not conclusive if taking some medicine leads to detection of psychoactive substances. However, recent consumption of drugs does show up in tests,\u201d said officials.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>DGCA rules on \u201cprocedure for examination of the aviation personnel for consumption of psychoactive substances\u201d says: \u201cIn case the confirmatory test is found positive, the medical in charge of the organisation shall consult a medical review officer to determine if the result was due to a legitimate therapeutic treatment or some other innocuous source (for example pain relief medication containing codeine may trigger a positive result for opiates).<\/p>\n<div class=\"LEzX4\">\n<div class=\"PmOGb\">\n<p class=\"PSf84\">Share your thoughts in the comments<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Insightful<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Agree<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Disagree<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Skeptical<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Concerning<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Promising<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Worth Reading<\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"sUTYm \">Big Development<\/button><\/p>\n<p><textarea class=\"T9MbS\" rows=\"1\" placeholder=\"Add your Thoughts...\"\/><button type=\"button\" class=\"ZW6JD \" disabled=\"\">Post Comment<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"swnca\">Be respectful \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatimes.com\/termsandcondition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"gkv0P\">TOI community guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>Airlines try to create awareness and encourage employees to anonymously report addiction so that the same can be addressed. But mostly people avoid reporting the same, so this virtually remains a non-starter, said many officials. Officials running operations across airlines say the focus in India is primarily on self-reporting and de-addiction.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>\u201cBut given the easy availability of psychoactive substances, we need to make the consequences a bit tougher and act as deterrent. We have to increase random testing, that\u2019s the only way out,\u201d said an official. Under DGCA rules, all scheduled commercial airlines and air navigation service providers need to test at least 10% of their flight crew members and air traffic controllers every year.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/air-india-phuket-flight-probe-marijuanas-legal-availability-adds-to-worries-of-airlines\/articleshow\/133167442.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlike simple breath analyser tests for checking if the crew is tipsy, the process of detecting consumption of psychoactive substances is difficult The legal availability of marijuana for either medicinal or recreational use in places like Thailand and Amsterdam has made life difficult for airlines flying there. The reason: Unlike simple breath analyser tests for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}