Can you skydive while you're high, sick or drunk? The simple answer is "yes." Physically, you can get out of a plane wearing a parachute while you're under the influence, or while you're in the throes of an actual-factual sick day. However, here's the extended truth: You should never skydive high, sick or drunk, and no reputable skydiving dropzone would ever allow you to do so. That's true if this is your first jump or your fifteen-thousandth jump.
BAD IDEA #1: SKYDIVING HIGH
We're all grown-ups here. Right? (Skydiving, after all, has an 18+ age limit in the good ol' US of A, so we're imagining that's you, too.) Since that's out of the way, here it is: Depending who you talk to, it could be send that we're kinda-sorta in a golden age for marijuana availability. In Jumptown's beloved home state of Massachusetts--where we've been jumping since all the way back in 1959--marijuana was legalized for medicinal use in 2012 and recreational use in 2016. That being said: "recreational use" by no means refers to "use during any recreational pursuit you desire to undertake." If you blaze up in the car and any staff member notices the act or its effects, you will definitely not be blazing up to altitude.
Why? Well: As a tandem student, you're not going to be a passive passed-out passenger. You'll be taking an active role on the skydive, which will require you to go through a training process, to learn new skills and to demonstrate them in the high-pressure environment of freefall. Most tandem skydiving students love this super-involved, all-hands-on-deck experience--it's much more personal and much more satisfying than, say, strapping into a roller coaster--but it requires your 100% engagement. Weed reduces your ability to do what we need you to do, which, of course, is what you need you to do in order to complete a safe, awesome skydive.
We're not even going to go into detail on why you shouldn't skydive on illegal drugs. Y'all did DARE in middle school. Dig up the handouts.
BAD IDEA #2: SKYDIVING DRUNK
Oh, man. If there was a worse idea than skydiving high, it's skydiving drunk. Not only does all of the above apply, but you're putting yourself in danger of becoming a flying vomit bomb. If you're drunk, we're not only not going to let you anywhere near our top-notch crew of professional skydiving instructors, we're probably going to ask you to leave. Skydivers like to party, but we do it after green light*, and we like to be smart about it.
BAD IDEA #3: SKYDIVING SICK
The first two bad ideas are--you likely agree--pretty obviously dumb. Skydiving sick? Like: Getting high and getting drunk are personal choices, right? Getting sick isn't. So why should your sad sniffly self be penalized for bad luck?
Look: We get it! We know how frustrating it is to wake up on the day of your first tandem skydive with the nasty ickies. You've been looking forward to this so long, and now this?! Pifflesticks. You're going through with it anyway.
Maybe what we have to tell you next will change your mind. If you skydive with a stuffy head, your eardrum might burst from the elevation changes. OUCH! If you skydive with a head cold and manage not to explode your eardrum, you'll face a much more likely ordeal: a headache that will make you squirm with agony. Ready? It gets even worse. During freefall, as the thin air of altitude starts to thicken back to normal, your poor, abused nose is going to run. It's going to run like it's never run before. It's going to empty itself out, and there's going to be no tissue available to hold back the flood. You and your stalwart instructor are going to wear it all over you. Just....ew.
So don't! We've convinced you now, we're sure.
The final word is this: Let your skydive be an experience that you're 100% aware of, responsive for and hale and hearty to enjoy. Anyway, there's no higher high than a jump at the legendary Jumptown. Let us show you how!
