Drugs, Drink and Duty
HEALTH
A fire service unit, genuinely convinced of the seriousness of its firefighting responsibilities, ought to create an atmosphere where the use of drugs and alcohol is a behavior that is not accepted. Carrying drugs and getting high on the job is a breach of trust both with the public and with one another.
The thought of firefighters having to respond to nuclear incidents and to contend with hazardous material emergencies was unimaginable 50 years ago. The changes in the nature of emergencies that firefighters face are matched by the changes in the men and women called upon to respond.
By whatever combination of causes (pressure, stress, boredom, etc.), there arose one major detriment, practically unheard of 20 years ago, that has had dramatic effects on the performance of some fire service personnel—drugs. Drugs have found their way into nearly every work category in America, irrespective of age, rank or position.
In response to this reality, every fire service organization must create a formal, stated position on the possession, use or exchange of drugs that, in any manner, could affect the activities or image of the department. This policy must be well thought out and take into consideration the issue of specific penalties and the questions of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as America’s all-time favorite, and most damaging drug—alcohol.
When agreed upon, the statement should be widely and clearly announced and strictly, but always fairly enforced. Fairness suggests that the weight of penalties will fall equally on every rank, without discrimination. There can be no pretense that an impaired officer will do less damage than a tipsy, probationary firefighter.
In addition to political necessity, public confidence and the all-important demand of saving lives, the reality that no one fights a fire alone and that each firefighter depends on all other firefighters should be sufficient criteria demanding utmost alertness in our behavior. The protection, support, warning, and rescue of brother for brother should convince even the most resistant mind of the need for a fire service that is free from alcoholism and drug addiction.
Fire officers and fellow firefighters can often see addiction problems developing before the man or woman involved with these substances can.
Marijuana
The mistaken popular notion depicts drug use as exclusive to young people. The media emphasizes widespread smoking of marijuana among those under 30, and even supports the contention that the drug is, for all practical purposes, harmless.
If marijuana were a harmless drug it would be unique among all medications. A medical marvel! Any substance strong enough to have a therapeutic effect is strong enough to harm.
Any drug—even aspirin or antacid—used in the wrong quantity, in the wrong circumstances or by the wrong person can have a negative effect. Aspirin can upset, even ulcerate the stomach; antacid can damage the kidneys; and marijuana can cause panic, memory loss and more than the accepted respiratory harm inflicted by nicotine cigarettes.
A common delusion is that the effects of marijuana end when the euphoria is gone. Distortions in sensory perception, thought processing and reaction time last some eight to twelve hours after the “high” is exhausted.
The performance of a firefighter who responds to an alarm after “getting off on smoke” is less than expected. He may become disoriented and muddle the counting and direction of turns when performing search and rescue operations, or he may respond with panic rather than with professionalism when a call for help goes out.
Whether we approve or not, whether we like it or not, the smoking of marijuana nas Decome ror targe numDers or people an accepted and important part of life. In some circles, the person who doesn’t smoke is the outsider.
Marijuana smokers don’t seem to be, and often don’t need to be very secretive about their use of the drug. Some will openly carry their “stash,” especially in 22those areas where the possession of small quantities of the drug has been decriminalized.
Cocaine
Today, in every metropolitan area and in most rural communities, cocaine is readily available and widely used. While this drug can cause bursts of incredible energy, those spurts are countered by periods of lethargy and even depression. Whether “wired” or “crashing,” the cocaine user is no help in fighting a fire.
unlike alcoholics, drug users normally cannot support their habit with their paychecks alone. Therefore, driving demands for cash and employee thefts are signals of a possible drug problem. In the case of cocaine, nasal irritations are a definite telltale sign.
Heroin
Nearly every big city fire department has had its experiences with members of the force using heroin. Most often, the wary officer does not have to look for pupils as small as pinpoints or needle marks on the arm—the user’s moods change so dramatically and so much time is lost to “junk sickness” and the hustle to obtain the drug that attendance, lateness and medical claim records are the giveaway.
Of course, if superiors are inattentive or moved by some supposed pity to tolerate this behavior, the user’s condition will deteriorate until the problem becomes somebody’s tragedy.
In addition to morale and absenteeism problems, drug use often results in injuries to both users and non-users. Other general identifiers of the drug abuser are frequent trips to the washroom, carelessness, and frequent, unaccounted for drowsiness and sleeping spells.
Prescription and over-the-counter drugs
Every person is well advised to be conscious of the medications they are taking, both prescription and over-thecounter remedies. Special attention must be paid to the warnings about possible side effects.
Certain preparations, such as cold capsules, specifically advise the user as to how they may affect performance. Others are relatively benign unless mixed with other drugs, taken on an empty stomach, or used in combination with alcohol. Each firefighter should consult with a private physician or, better still, inquire of the fire surgeon as to the possible effects of these drugs and the precautions to take.
Alcohol
The time-honored role of alcohol in the life of the fire company has to be reexamined as the work becomes more and more professional in character.
Alcohol, itself, is something of a wonder drug. It is an anesthetic, a tranquilizer, a social lubricant. It cools a fever, it sterilizes, it gives sleep. Alcohol is used in celebration, in ceremony, and in religious ritual.
And, alcohol is wondrously dangerous. It causes more sickness, more deaths, more accidents, more lost time, more spoiled work, more social and family disruption, and more crime than all the other drugs put together. And it can, and has cost loss of life in firefighting. Clouded judgments and fumbled movements are no match for the ever-changing conditions of the fireground.
Reasons for drugs and drink
There are elements in the career of firefighting that heighten the likelihood of involvement with drugs:
Aspects of the work are boring. Maintenance of apparatus is routine, and training can be repetitious. Waiting for an alarm is at once tedious and tension provoking. The rule for many has been to make the time work for you. Each person can involve himself in hobbies; reach out to the community in fire awareness and prevention activities; or study for promotion, self-improvement or a degree.
The public is not always appreciative. There are people in every community who have their erroneously fixed ideas about what firefighters are—alcoholics, misfits, loafers, or fools for running the risks of the job’s responsibilities.
The illusion of invulnerability. Tirefighters, of necessity, go places and do things that the average Tom, Dick or Mary would never attempt. The professional training and the discipline of the unit makes tasks that would be impossible for the unprepared, acceptable risks. The sole danger is that having acquired this exceptional competence, the firefighter then judges that there is no danger he can’t handle. An unhappy surprise is that where drugs are concerned, no one is well prepared.
The experience of losing one. Very early in any firefighter’s career, the individual is confronted with the appalling event of seeing a life lost to fire. Those searing questions about a delayed alarm, a blocked approach, a misdirected search, a shortage of water, an obstructed stairway, stay with a person. If only this; if only that. Every firefighter has a story never told, and its pain backs up into the heart and the brain.
Anyone who has ever taken hook or hose in hand has burned into their memory an image of this infant or that young girl, an aged man, a whole family lost to fire.
Too often it seems easy to blot out those faces with a pill or pot.
By far, it’s better to find solace on the shoulders of one’s fellows, in the arms of one’s lover, or on one’s knees in prayer. The danger with the chemical solution is that while it blocks the pain, it may also stop the love and the dedication that gives meaning to the fire service and to life itself.
Slang Terms for Drugs
Amphetamines
Bennies, Black Beauties, Crank, Crystal, Dexies, Pep Pills, Speed, Uppers, Whites
Barbiturates
Barbs, Blues, Christmas Trees, Downers, Reds, Stumblers, Yellow Jackets
Cocaine
Blow, C, Coke, Flake, Nose Candy, Rock, Snow, White
Hashish
Hash
Heroin
Boy, Brown, Brown Sugar, Caballo, Chiva, H, Hombre, Horse, Junk, Mexican Mud, Polvo. Scag, Smack, Stuff
LSD
Acid, Blotter Acid, California Sunshine, Haze, Microdots, Purple Haze, Window Panes
Marijuana
Acapulco Gold, Cannabis, Colombian, Grass, Hemp, Herb, J, Joint, Mary Jane, Panama Red, Pot, Reefer, Smoke, Stick, Tea, Weed
Peyote
Buttons, Cactus, Mescal, Mescal Buttons
Methaqualone
Quaalude, Quads, Soapers, Sopes, Sopor
Morphine
Cube, First Line, Goma, Morf, Mud
Phencyclidine
Angel Dust, Cyclone, Hog, PCP, Supergrass
