TODAY’S MODERATOR: Should pilots be drug-tested?

All kinds of jobs do drug and alcohol testing these days, and people have strong feelings about it — both pro and con.

After a Centerville airline pilot and his wife died of a drug overdose in their home a few weeks ago, this newspaper looked into how often pilots are tested. Staff writer Will Garbe reported that "pilots responsible for thousands of airline passengers can go years without a drug or alcohol test.

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"The nation's largest airline pilots union is fighting a drug testing proposal that safety groups hail as a major advance in the country's efforts to fight misuse of addictive opioid painkillers," Garbe wrote. "The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents more than 55,000 pilots at 32 airlines, resisted implementation and expansion of drug and alcohol testing for decades — and still does.

“The union has cited privacy issues and raised questions about the accuracy and expense of the tests. It also advocates redirecting resources into treatment programs for pilots with chemical dependency problems,” he said.

Your thoughts? Email rrollins@coxohio.com.

READ THE ORIGINAL STORY HERE.

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