HIGH ON THE HIGHWAY - Should Professional CDL Drivers be Allowed to Smoke Weed?

Theres a lot of articles being written about whether or not truckers should be allowed to smoke Marijuana after a new ATRI Study was released.

I went over the study for a couple hours and made video highlighting my thoughts

So What would be the incentive to legalize Weed for Drivers?
The FMCSA Requires Drivers to be subject to Drug Test both Pre-Employment and Random while hired by a motor Carrier.
Typically Done peeing into a cup (pee test) or more scientifically known as a metabolite test.
It is believed that if weed restrictions were lightened it would help solve the driver shortage issue in the United States.

Over the past three years 100,000 Drivers have been removed from the Trucking Industry for testing positive for Marijuana, losing their career and not returning to duty. (Page 29)
When they do return to duty it is very hard to have a company agree to hire you because of the increased risk as well as the additional work they have to do to follow the SAP program. (Along with increased likelihood of a nuclear verdict in the case of a claim.)
The current claim is that there is a driver shortage of about 65,000 in the United States - I’ve seen this as high as 250,000 in other studies.

Effects of Cannabis while Driving page 16
These numbers are based on Cars and Professional driving is very very different
Because HOS Laws and when drivers are driving trucks they are driving for 10 hours a day typically

I do agree with a potential (page 19) Biology base blood Sample of ng/ml of THC concentration. Essentially a “Active Impairment Test” Which 65% of drivers in the Survey Agreed with.

I think that the desire to make marijuana allowable for professional drivers is based off a false premise that the driver shortage is a larger number than in reality. Giant companies are incentivized to push whatever allows more drivers into the market so drivers can be paid $0.40/mile instead of $0.75 for instance. The numbers are inflated when “X” companies post 100 job add for drivers at a crazy below market value rate. So I think the method of calculating the driver shortage is calculated could lead to dangerous policy that doesn’t match the truth of the situation.

#ATRI #study #report #weed #marijuana #trucking #FMCSA #drugs #driver #shortage #Fadeddriverscruisingdownthehighway

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