Word is short for brain adrift. This was Navy slang in the early 1970s and meant someone whose mind was not anchored. An drifting ship can end up anywhere and there was no telling where a drifting mind could go to or what such a person might say or do.. Example: Bill sure is acting drifty today, he doesn't seem to know what planet he is on.
DRIFTY
Meaning of DRIFTY in English
Slang English vocab. Английский сленговый словарь. 2012