What’s the truth about pot? Is it an innocuous weed we should stop complaining about? Or is it a dangerous substance that kills lots of people? What should we do about it? First, let’s clarify the “We” in the above sentence. I’m not talking about the federal government right now; I’m mostly talking about the motor carrier. |
BLUF: (Bottom line up front) . .. . let’s set a base-level for the legal status of pot. It’s not legal. Period. It’s been like that since 1937. |
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The federal law has not changed. 1st; all 50 states copied the federal law long ago. More recently, most states said “Let’s pretend it’s medicine,” and constructed farcical measures to hide from the truth. Then, about half of the states said “Smoke it if you want to.” Under the last administration, there was an effort to legalize pot entirely. It could even happen under this administration. I’ve often said, if you don’t owe anyone money, and if you have stopped driving (think of elderly folks who no longer drive; they are not going to endanger others), you should be allowed to smoke pot at will. It helps you forget the stuff you are worried about and just not give a crap. For everyone else, you have to drive an automobile and you have to work. Use of THC (the psychoactive substance in marijuana) robs you of motivation and makes you more careless and more prone to errors, mistakes and bad decisions. And you get sick more often and miss more time from work for sickness and injuries. If you have kids to raise and bills to pay, you should not use pot. If you are less than 26 years old, you shouldn’t use pot, because it has a lifelong effect on your brain, which isn’t fully formed until you reach the age of 26. That’s just my two cents worth. There’s been a LOT of discussion about the changing attitude toward this dangerous substance; but the bottom line is, people who smoke pot should not drive automobiles. Especially not the really big ones, like semi trucks. Or non-CDL commercial motor vehicles for that matter. People who smoke pot have more wrecks and cause more fatal crashes. The following is from a recent article in Land Line Magazine: “A 2023 study linked legalizing recreational marijuana with an average increase of. . . 1,000 additional deaths yearly. . . “ · An NTSB finding that marijuana impairment caused a crash in a 2022 collision in Oklahoma that killed six teenagers. So what will the FMCSA do? My best guess is, the FMCSA will continue to reiterate that “Use of this substance is inconsistent with the mental and physical demands of operating a commercial motor vehicle.” That said, the real drug problem in America isn’t pot; it’s opium, cocaine, heroin, methadone, and Fentanyl. Especially Fentanyl. But let’s focus on the trucking industry; people using the hard stuff often choose not to drive trucks or don’t make it to work. Possibly, the conventional wisdom about cocaine being too expensive for most people is not as true as it once was; I have heard the cost of that drug has dropped like a stone in the last couple years, similar to what happened to the price of heroin about 10-15 years ago. That takes us back to the old standbys; it’s still amphetamines and pot that plague our industry. The 5 things the mandatory DOT Drug test covers are Marijuana, Cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, and PCP. But that’s not necessarily going to catch all the drugs people are using. So here’s my advice: 1) Be sure you have a good DOT-compliant D & A testing system; review it to make sure you are doing the right things, and doing them right. 2) You should have a separate drug-free workplace drug testing system, to deter non-CDL employees from using drugs also. Two reasons for DFWP testing: 1-saves money on work comp 2-tests for 4 or 5 more substances that the DOT screen does not include. 3) Carefully keep the two separate; a huge number of critical and acute violations happen when motor carriers get these two mixed up. If you need help checking over your D & A testing systems, to be sure you are doing it right and following industry best-practices, give us a shout. We might be able to help you out, or point you in the right direction, or both. |
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Sincerely, Mike England |
