Heavy Duty Trucking, August 2019

reflected in court cases where the judge essentially says just because somebody tests positive for cannabis in a legal state thats not a good enough reason not to hire them The National Law Review in June noted that many state and local jurisdictions have enacted anti discrimination laws concerning marijuana use Such laws typically prohibit employers from taking adverse action against an employee who uses marijuana in compliance with the local jurisdictions marijuana laws so long as the employee does not consume cannabis at work and is not impaired while on the job Although courts tended to side with employers in the first wave of employment cases concerning marijuana use since marijuana legalization began the NLR reports Recent decisions in federal and state courts indicate that employers need to proceed with caution when they make employment decisions concerning drug tests for cannabis use Dempsey says he feels the same about recreational use A persons private time is theirs And what they do on their own time as long as theyre not hurting anybody is their business So for me it really comes down to determining impairment Because in our industry that is what matters at the bottom line Otho Ries is a Gen Xer with long hair a long beard tattoos and a penchant for heavy metal Hes also the Arkansas Area truck shop manager for Peco Foods based in Pocahontas Arkansas Ries grew up on the rough edge of Arkansas society and witnessed firsthand the devastation that drug addiction did to both family and friends He considers marijuana a benign substance compared to the hard drugs he saw around him growing up Beer is a gateway drug Ries says We all know people who have their first can of beer and flash forward 10 years and theyre a meth head So its not fair to apply that label to marijuana alone Ries acknowledges that trucking has been slow to respond to legalized weed but thinks its simply a matter of time before reality steps in and forces change Its going to happen in every industry Not just ours he says Fleets will be really stringent at first and then people will chill when they realize its not as big an issue as they were anticipating The current state of affairs has cost Ries several talented technicians over the years because they couldnt pass a random drug screening The best tech I ever had was a Gulf War vet who came home all messed up from being over there Ries says When his head was clear hed run circles around everybody else But the VA had him on 17 different medications And he was like a zombie on that stuff Then one day he quit taking all that crap and just started smoking weed for medicinal purposes And he was awesome But one day we got popped for a random screening And he just walked up to me and handed me his pass card and said Its been real bro But I cant pass that piss test And I lost the best tech I had right then and there Ries believes the loss of talent like this is doing more harm to the industry than people using marijuana As an industry we know we have to figure this out he says If people are using marijuana legally or for legitimate medical purposes if theyre following the laws and not working or driving while impaired I dont see how we can punish them for that Its not fair to penalize people for what they do on their own time We dont own them or pay them for that time If they show up for work on time ready to go and arent impaired I dont see what the problem is HDT AUGUST 2019 92 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM PART 2 M A R I J U A N A TRUCKING UNDER THE INFLUENCE PART 2 PHOTO GETTYIMAGES COM JUANMONINO Watch for additional installments in this series at www truckinginfo com undertheinfluence BONUS Cannabidiol CBD oil is becoming a commonly used natural alternative to pain medicine But commercial drivers should be cautioned that use of CBD oil may result in a positive DOT drug test putting their careers at risk warns Kathy Close a transportation editor at J J Keller Associates which offers safety and compliance products and services The cannabis sativa plant comes in two strains each of which has the potential to produce CBD oils Hemp is bred for fiber oils and nutritional benefits and has only 03 THC concentration Marijuana is bred for the production of THC and has 5 30 THC concentration Looking at THC tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations alone you might incorrectly assume that only marijuana based CBD oil has the potential to show up in a DOT drug panel THC concentration is dependent upon the manufacturing process and how much oil the individual is using Even hemp derived CBD oils can register at a level that is considered a DOT drug testing violation Use of THC is forbidden for a regulated driver no matter the source As a result medical and recreational marijuana and some CBD oils even if legal under state law are federally banned And because THC is an absolute under DOT drug testing a medical review officer is not allowed to take the medicinal use of a CBD oil into consideration as he or she determines a drug test result CBD OILS CAN RESULT IN DRUG TESTING VIOLATION In states where recreational use of marijuana is legal drivers could unknowingly partake of cannabis in edible goodies at a party and fail a drug test