QUESTION: "Should diving instructors and divemasters be required to submit to a program of pre-employment and routine drug testing? Why/why not?"

Compiled and edited by Jeffrey Bozanic

The diving world may be viewed as a microcosm of society, with many identical or parallel problems. Among those issues is that of substance abuse--including tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. The misuse of these substances has been a causative or contributory cause of numerous fatal or near fatal accidents. This has prompted legislative bodies to attempt to curb abuse by enacting statutes allowing or mandating the use of screening tests to identify users of such substances.

Recently, the United States Coast Guard has started enforcing a drug screening program for operators and crew of boat vessels which carry passengers for hire. This practice is intended to protect the paying public from dangers associated with the handling of a craft by one under the influence of intoxicating substances. It also prompted Jim Rooney, NDA Member 36768, to inquire if diving instructors, who are also responsible for the safety of the public, should be held accountable in the same manner.

Twelve members responded to the question, with the number of those opposed to the concept slightly edging out those favoring mandatory pre-employment drug testing for diving instructors. Not too surprising were the number of people who were undecided on this complex question. Of the persons requested to respond, nearly half were unsure what the most favorable or beneficial course of action ought to be.

The major point offered in favor of drug testing was the issue of safety and responsibility. Others included the fact that instructors should set an example for all divers and other members of the public, and that it is a simple and inexpensive procedure.

Many arguments were advanced countering favorable contentions. In direct conflict was that many saw the need to be slight, so slight as to make any program needlessly expensive and counterproductive. The issue ignores the abuse of other, more commonly abused substances, such as alcohol. Any program proposed would have to be worldwide in scope, further complicating matters. Of course, the issue of civil liberties with regards to right to privacy was raised, along with the comments that other nationwide testing programs are still being tested in the courts for constitutional legality.

The question of false positive results from drug screening programs was also broached, with an interesting twist that directly affects divers. Some legal, over-the-counter drugs can produce results which appear the same as illicit drugs. One of these legal drugs is pseudoephedrine hexachloride, sold under many trade names, including Sudafed (c). This is a drug commonly used by divers.

All members see a problem with drug use. The discrepancy is how to deal with it. Drug testing is only one means of dealing with the problem. Most stated that education is another viable means of handling the issue of substance abuse. There needs to be some means of influencing users to change their attitudes and actions. Peer pressure is one of the most effective means of education. Ethics development is an important part of the issue, which again relates to education. As an educational association, NAUI has some role in the struggle to reduce the abuse of detrimental substances. It is up to the membership, both as individuals and as a group, to define what exact form this role will be.

---

QUESTION: "SHOULD DIVING INSTRUCTORS AND DIVEMASTERS BE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT TO A PROGRAM OF PRE-EMPLOYMENT AND ROUTINE DRUG TESTING? WHY/WHY NOT?

A. Anyone who accepts the responsibility of dealing with public safety must have their maximum faculties with them at all times. I include police, fire fighters, pilots, and most assuredly, scuba instructors who escort people into a foreign environment. Since day one our motto has been SAFETY THROUGH EDUCATION. Society has learned that it can depend upon a NAUI INstructor. Anyone who has a drug habit has no place in our Association.
Besides the question of safety we must realize that, as a scuba instructor, we are placing ourselves into role models for the youth of America. We have the opportunity to direct their lives, habits, and ambitions. This not only includes drugs but also the use of tobacco products. I remember the arched eyebrows when, during a 1971 ITC, Dr. Egstrom said that divers who smoke should give up one or the other. Now, just twenty years later, it is rare to find a NAUI Instructor who smokes. I now invite all instructors to do the same with drugs. It must be one or the other. We should consider it a privilege to set a positive example by taking whatever tests are offered to prove we are drug free.
--Roy Damron, NAUI 207; Kona, Hawaii(Diving Instructor, current NAUI Board of Advisors member. Past NAUI Director, Chapter Leader, West Pacific Branch Manager, and ITC Director. Recipient of NAUI Outstanding Service Award.)

A. Besides the nightmare involved in administering such a program or requirement, I see no justification for this in our industry. Corporations who currently require their employees to submit to these procedures, justify it through statistics including work place accidents and work days cost. None of this is evident as a major problem in diving. In addition, alcohol (which is a serious problem when combined with diving) has a short detection span and is considered socially acceptable. Minor traces of alcohol or other drugs which would be acceptable in a normal work place are not acceptable immediately prior to a dive. It appears we must continue to rely on the appropriate attitudes and actions of the diving "Professionals" themselves.
--Peter Meyer, NAUI 4264; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada(Insurance Broker handling diving instructional liability insurance. Member NAUI Canada Board of Directors. Has lectured extensively on risk management in scuba instruction.)

A. Dive instructors and divemasters should not be required to submit to pre-employment and routine drug testing. Anyone can time their drug use so as to not test positive. Commonly used over-the-counter drugs such as "Sudafed" may test positive in a urine drug screen. The question of "invasion of privacy" is also a sensitive issue. What agency would supervise the testing, who would do the actual testing, and what repercussions there would be for a positive result are complex questions.
The diving industry should encourage their instructors and divemasters not to use drugs, including alcohol, not only so as not to impair their own judgement while teaching or leading, but to act as role models for divers.
--K. R. McNally, NAUI A-34402; Crestline, CA(Family practice physician, and Advanced Diver who has diving experience in many worldwide locations.)

A. I did not want to answer this one. I am so divided on this issue in my own mind that whatever I write, I will be the first to disagree with it!
--Nicole Crane, NAUI 10435; Pacific Grave, CA(Diving Safety Officer for Stanford University. Has taught all levels of diving to Divemaster, including specialties such as Research Diving. Has Taught for the military at Fort Ord and at the Catalina Island Marine Institute.)

A. Drug testing of individuals raises serious questions about individual rights to privacy versus the public's right to safety. In regulations implementing the Drug Free Workplace Act, the U.S. Department of Transportation stated that the public's right to safe passage outweighed the individual's right to privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court has supported this position.
Drug testing of diving instructors and divemasters can therefore be boiled down to a simple issue of safety. Recognizing that alcohol is the major player in the problems associated with substance abuse, in addition to illegal drugs--does substance abuse affect the safety of dive students or fellow divers? How many of us have known a diving instructor, divemaster, boat captain, or even fellow diver starting the day with an enormous hangover? And yet we probably said nothing! Was that diver with the hangover functioning at full capacity and as safe as possible? Probably not. And yet we probably said nothing!
What is needed in our industry, and in the country as a whole, is an absolute inflexible intolerance of substance abuse in all of its many forms. Drug testing is simply a clumsy tool used by society to force users into seeking help, while at the same time denying our responsibility for the problem in the first place. Yet research reveals that societal intolerance of substance abusers' activities and refusal of support is even more effective in getting abusers to seek help.
Do the dive instructors/divemasters/boat captains working for you know and understand that if they show up one morning with a hangover that they will be sent home? And that if it happens again they are fired? If not, then we are passively supporting a substance abuser, and threatening our students and fellow divers. The issue of whether to drug test or not is not the true issue. The real issue is why we permit our attitudes towards substance abuse to continue to passively support those who cause us harm.
--Jim Rooney, NDA 36768, PADI OWSI 40756; Alexandria, VA(Drug Testing Program Administrator for the Association Buyers Group.)

A. The question of drug testing has become commonplace in today's society and usually raises questions of personal and civil liberties. But there are times when this issue needs to be examined from a different perspective. In spite of the many arguments offered against regular drug testing, I feel that in an activity such as ours it is proper and necessary, and all responsible dive leaders should agree to such testing.
We need to remember that competent dive leaders have dedicated themselves to providing safe and proper instruction and supervision for their charges. To assure that proper levels of education and guidance are provided, various recertification procedures have already been established with few arguing that these methods are unnecessary or in violation of civil liberties. Drug testing would simply be another check for proficiency and should not meet any more resistance than the other tests.
Would it not be contradictory for a dive leader who feels that a diver's safety and comfort comes first to use drugs? Can we tolerate this activity any more than an instructor who provides sub standard instruction?
--Keith J. Sliman, NAUI 3417L; Baton Rouge, LA(Director of Training for SEVEN SEAS, a NAUI Pro Facility and winner of 1987 Affiliate Award. Received the Outstanding Service Award and Continuing Service Award. Member of NAUI Dive Table Review Committee, reviewer of Advanced Diving Techniques, contributor to upcoming Leadership Manual and frequent contributor to Sources. Has taught all levels from entry level to ITC.)

A. The answer is a simple, YES. I feel anyone who is to be responsible for the lives of others should submit to routine drug testing. It is a simple and inexpensive procedure that can save lives. Most major industries now require random testing to insure safety among their employees. A program could easily be set up that would make random testing part of our membership requirements. Partial criteria for becoming a NAUI Instructor is that the Instructor Trainer asks him/herself the question "Would I let this person teach my family to dive?" I do not think too many people would allow anyone on drugs teach their families anything. I do not think we should either.
--Ralph Daniel, NAUI 11650; Bryan, TX(Co Owner of SEA U Underwater, teaches Openwater I through Divemaster.)

A. No. The technical and administrative questions that are at present unresolved are reasons enough not to pursue a drug testing program. Those questions include: How are false positive test results handled? Are consistent testing procedures achievable? (It would appear impossible when the subjects to be tested are scattered in remote locations worldwide.) Who will perform the testing and analysis? (An independent agency removes an obvious conflict of interest with industry/agency sponsored programs but introduces prohibitive costs.) Programs implementing pre-employment, random, and/or routine testing are being challenged in the state and federal courts now. There is very little to be gained by implementing a program anytime in the near future.
The larger question that needs to be addressed is not whether drug testing is necessary or a good idea, but whether our nation's drug policy is even on the right track. The hypocrisy of ignoring alcohol use and prosecuting those involved in drugs needs to be remedied. The enforcement solution has proven time and again to be ineffective and wasteful of resources, both human and material. The Prohibition Era gave us a good look at the results an attempt at changing public behavior via the legislative process produces. Look at the cigarette industry for an example of the impact education alone can have. Society has become intolerant of smoking not because it was outlawed, but because it was awakened from ignorance by the Surgeon General, the American Lung Association, and others.
NAUI is an educational and training institution, not an enforcement and monitoring agency. Drug education not interdiction, molding public opinion not reacting to it, is a more responsible course and a better application of resources.
--Jed Livingstone, NAUI 5405; Irvine, CA(South Pacific Branch Manager, has taught all levels of diving through ITCs.)

A. Yes. Let's keep the sport clean.
--Ian Koblick, NAUI ????; Key Largo, FL(Director, Marine Resources Development Foundation. Has been heavily involved in underwater habitats and laboratories for almost thirty years.)

A. No. As professional dive instructors, we have our own code of ethics, governing membership behavior and setting certain standards under which all instructors are to adhere. Implementing a requirement like this would detract from those standards, and is unnecessary as well.
--Gary Jones, NAUI ; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada(Has taught all levels of diving from entry level to Instructor. Past member of the NAUI Canada Board of Directors.)

A. One factor that influenced me to become a NAUI Instructor was the flexibility allowed those members. This flexibility came from trust. The NAUI leaders have earned this trust and take pride in their leadership rating. I find it almost insulting that this trust could become conditional. "We know you are a NAUI Instructor and we know that NAUI trains the finest underwater educators in the world, so how about taking a pre-employment drug test?" If I recall correctly the second rule of NAUI Safe Scuba Diving Practices states "Maintain good physical and mental condition for diving. Only dive when feeling well. Do not use any intoxicating liquor or dangerous drugs before diving. Have a regular medical examination for diving." I feel all NAUI leaders take this to heart and have enough professionalism to respect this rule. So let's show the instructors and divemasters the same respect and not mandate a drug testing requirement. It also concerns me about who would assume the burden of paying the costs of drug testing, the dive shop owner, the charter boat owner, the individual instructor. Another question is, would instructors outside the UNited States have to meet the requirement of drug testing?
--Jerry R. Nuss, Jr., NAUI 12585; Rossville, IL(Independent Instructor conducting courses primarily for law enforcement officers.)

A. The question is not should instructors and divemasters be drug tested. Due to Department of Transportation and Coast Guard regulations, they will be drug tested if they work in any capacity on a U.S. flag vessel.
--Tom Long, NAUI 2444; Akron, AL(President of Pro Diving Service, Inc., a commercial diving service; and President of Cruzan Divers, Inc., a tropical dive resort. Spent 10 years as a military diver.)

A. How ridiculous! Most people involved in diving are aware that drugs and diving do not mix. The majority of jobs now do not require drug testing. It may be necessary in some positions, like commercial airline pilots, but not in the dive industry. It is more trouble that it is worth, as I personally do not feel that it is a significant problem. You just do not hear of instructors showing up drunk or loaded for class (although it has happened with some students). Let's concentrate our efforts on important problems, like the lack of cooperation between the different scuba training agencies.
--Kevin McAllister, NAUI 10378; Two Harbors, Catalina Island, CA(Diving Safety Officer for the Catalina Marine Science Center, University of Southern California. Has taught all levels of diving from entry level to ITCs.)