MARIJUANA

Trucking and marijuana testing find their way to the Supreme Court

Trucking issues don’t often make it in front of the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. But on Tuesday they heard arguments in a case involving the complex legal questions surrounding truck drivers and marijuana use.

The case of Douglas Horn, a former driver with New York-based Enterprise Transportation Co., was before the court to determine whether harm he suffered as a result of his 2012 dismissal after failing a drug test – even though he did not use marijuana – qualifies for triple...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-and-marijuana-testing-find-their-way-to-the-supreme-court

Buttigieg: Rescheduling pot will not affect trucker drug testing

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed back on assertions that federal regulators could lose the ability to test truck drivers for marijuana use if the drug is deregulated down to a Schedule III substance.

Responding to that concern from lawmakers at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on Thursday — and to the concerns of the American Trucking Associations — Buttigieg testified that if the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling rulemaking...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/buttigieg-rescheduling-pot-will-not-affect-trucker-drug-testing

Missouri court upholds nuclear verdict, blasts carrier’s safety practices

A Missouri appellate court has upheld a $20 million verdict against Great Plains Trucking in a decision in which the judges took the company to task for its safety practices.

But the ruling drew a partial dissent from one judge over the exclusion of evidence about the marijuana habits of the motorist whose son was killed in 2019 when an 18-wheeler from Great Plains Trucking, based in Salina, Kansas, struck the car on Interstate 70.

Robert Schultz was the 19-year-old son of Carrie Schultz, who was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/missouri-court-upholds-nuclear-verdict-blasts-carriers-safety-practices

How has state marijuana legalization affected trucking?

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) is asking carriers a series of questions on safety and other concerns in relation to state-level marijuana legalization.

In 2019, ATRI released a study on recreational marijuana laws’ possible effects on the trucking industry. At the time, 11 states had legalized marijuana. Since then, that number has nearly doubled to 20, prompting the new study.

The original study specifically looked at safety issues brought on by an increase in passenger...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-has-state-marijuana-legalization-affected-trucking

Truckers’ positive drug tests up 18% in 2022

The latest data from the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse reveals that drug use among commercial drivers may be at its highest level since the federal repository was set up in 2019 — but more are being cleared to drive again as well.

Total drug violations reported into the clearinghouse in 2022, including positive tests and refusals to take a drug test, increased 18% to 69,668 compared with last year’s 59,011, according to the most recent statistics released this week by the Federal Motor Carrier...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-positive-drug-tests-up-18-in-2022

Los camioneros positivos por drogas aumentaron un 18% en 2022 

Los últimos datos del Centro de Intercambio de Información sobre Drogas y Alcohol revelan que el consumo de drogas entre los conductores comerciales puede estar en su nivel más alto desde que se creó el repositorio federal en 2019, pero también se están autorizando más para volver a conducir. 

El total de violaciones de drogas reportadas en el centro de intercambio de información en 2022, incluidas las pruebas positivas y las negativas a someterse a una prueba de drogas, aumentó un 18% a 69,668...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/los-positivos-por-drogas-de-los-camioneros-aumentaron-un-18-en-2022

La FMCSA deniega la petición de los transportadores de informar sobre los análisis de pelo de los camioneros 

googletag.cmd.push(function() { var gptSlot = googletag.defineSlot(‘/21776187881/FW-Responsive-Main_Content-Slot1’, [[728, 90], [468, 60], [300, 100], [320, 50]], ‘div-gpt-ad-b1-i-fw-ad-6’).defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps.banner1).setCollapseEmptyDiv(true).addService(googletag.pubads());
gptAdSlots.push(gptSlot);
});

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-b1-i-fw-ad-6’); });

Robin Hutcheson argumenta que el estatuto federal le impide aprobar una exención de la prueba de...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/la-fmcsa-deniega-la-peticion-de-los-transportadores-de-informar-sobre-los-analisis-de-pelo-de-los-camioneros

FMCSA denies carriers’ request to report truck driver hair tests

Robin Hutcheson argues that federal statute prevents her from approving a drug-test exemption that some of the nation’s largest trucking companies argue would have kept thousands of drug-abusing drivers off the roads.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief stated in a public filing on Thursday that she was therefore obligated to deny an application filed by a group of 11 major truckload operators seeking an exemption from federal regulations to require positive hair tests be...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-denies-carriers-request-to-report-truck-driver-hair-tests

Legal marijuana may lower the risk of truck accidents, says new research

A whopping two-thirds of Americans told Pew in 2019 they believe marijuana should be legal — up from 16% in 1989. 

Public opinion has quickly embraced cannabis, which research suggests is far less harmful than controlled substances like heroin or cocaine and legal ones like alcohol and tobacco.

America’s $800 billion trucking industry isn’t matching that shift in public opinion. In fact, it’s taking the complete opposite approach. In January 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/legal-weed-may-lower-the-risk-of-truck-accidents-says-new-research

Truckers using cocaine more than marijuana, study finds

A new study reveals that the U.S. Department of Transportation may be underreporting cocaine abuse by truck drivers, a finding that could put more pressure on federal regulators to allow hair testing as an alternative to urine testing for preemployment drug screening by trucking companies.

Because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse does not allow hair test results to be included in the database, DOT “is seriously underreporting the actual use of harder...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-using-cocaine-more-than-marijuana-study-finds

+ More