WASHINGTON — Before you can become a commercial truck driver, you must take federal drug and alcohol tests. While the federal government considers changing how it classifies marijuana, some department leaders say drug testing shouldn’t change for truckers.
“Any impaired driving via alcohol, marijuana or any other sources of impairment is, of course, a major safety concern,” said Secretary Pete Buttigieg from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
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During a recent congressional hearing, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Congress these requirements shouldn’t change even as the Department of Justice proposes re-classifying it as a less dangerous drug.
“Marijuana is identified by name not by reference to one of those classes so even if it moves in its classification, we do not believe that that would have a direct impact on that authority,” said Buttigieg.
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Dan Horvath with the American Trucking Associations (ATA) welcomed this news. The group said marijuana and alcohol are the most detected drugs in impaired roadway incidents. However, Horvath said there are still some concerns.
“We certainly think that we’re going to see a negative impact on highway safety,” said Horvath, Regulatory Affairs and Safety Policy for ATA.
Horvath said truckers are responsible for driving as much as 80,000 pounds on our highways. Currently, the organization relies on the Department of Transportation’s drug testing policies to ensure drivers aren’t under the influence of marijuana.
“Testing for marijuana impairment is a lot different than testing for alcohol use,” said Horvath.
Moving forward, Horvath believe there should be a focus on developing additional methods for accurately screening the amount of marijuana in a drivers’ system.
“How do we get to the point of having a reliable impairment standard like we do for blood alcohol today, that can be used that can be assessed in a roadside test,” he said.
The Department of Transportation says it will continue to evaluate any other potential impacts from rescheduling marijuana.
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