DOT Has No Plans to Change Marijuana Regulations
The Biden Administration is working to move marijuana from a Schedule I (heroin) to a Schedule III (testosterone/steroids), but that does not mean that truckers will be able to partake, as clarified by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigeig.
Details
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has been knocking on the DOT’s door asking how this change would impact the trucking industry, and now we have our answer: it will not for the foreseeable future.
“Our understanding of the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III is that it would not alter DOT’s marijuana testing requirements with respect to the regulated community,” said Secretary Buttigieg when talking to Rick Crawford, a Republican Representative from Arkansas. “For private individuals who are performing safety-sensitive functions, subject to drug testing, marijuana is identified by name, not by reference to one of those classes. So even if it was in its classification, we do not believe that that would have a direct impact on that authority.”
While the statement was not directed toward the ATA, the organization was still happy to finally get an answer.
“We are grateful to Congressman Crawford for elevating this serious issue, and we appreciate Secretary Buttigieg’s focus on providing the transportation industry with the clarity it needs to continue screening for marijuana use among safety-sensitive transportation workers,” said American Trucking Associations President & CEO Chris Spear. “If the trucking industry’s ability to conduct drug testing for marijuana use were to be restricted, a heightened risk of impaired drivers would threaten our nation’s roadways. DOT and ATA share the goals of achieving zero highway fatalities and ensuring the commercial driving workforce is qualified to safely operate, which is why we are committed to partnering with DOT to mitigate harmful impacts caused by the potential reclassification of marijuana.”
Conclusion
As it stands driving while under the effects of THC are still strictly prohibited, and while trucking with CBD is technically allowable, those products may still have traces of THC that can appear in a drug test. We at TopMark Funding continue to advise using products from cannabis with extreme caution, just as we did when we wrote about CBD in 2020.
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