U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that moving cannabis to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act wouldn’t affect drug testing policies for commercial truckers, noting that the Department of Transportation (DOT) specifically lists marijuana as substance to screen for.
“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,” he said at a congressional hearing on Thursday. “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 moves in its classification, we do not believe that that would have a direct impact on that authority.”
Buttigieg was responding to a question from Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR) during a House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on Thursday. The congressman had referenced concerns from the American Trucking Associations (ATA) “about the broad public health and safety consequences of reclassification on the national highway system and its users,” which ATA voiced in a recent letter to Buttigieg.
“The rescheduling and deregulation of marijuana would inevitably cause a number of people driving impaired while high to grow,” Crawford said. “Can you speak to what your department’s doing to ensure that transportation workers and safety reliant positions can continue to be tested for marijuana use if this proposal goes forward and how your department plans to address transportation safety in light of DOJ rulemaking?”
Buttigieg replied that “any impaired driving—via alcohol, marijuana or any other source of impairment—is, of course, a major safety concern.” While the transportation continued that DOT is “continuing to evaluate any indirect impact” of rescheduling, he said the agency doesn’t expect “any drug testing requirement relevant to that to be changed based on the reclassification decision.”
“Likewise, I should mention for federal employees, including any DOT employees who have a security clearance or safety-sensitive position, we do not understand that to be changed,” Buttigieg said .
It’s not immediately clear which other federal employees would still be required to be tested for marijuana use if […]
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What Is Cannabis Juicing By Sarah Johns, The Fresh Toast
