Phoenix68
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2022
- Messages
- 19,131
"Commercially licensed drivers and other transportation employees will continue to face sanctions for their use of state-authorized medical cannabis products, according to recently issued guidance from the US Department of Transportation.
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The memo, dated May 26, affirms that there has been no change in drug testing-related policy despite the Justice Department’s decision to reclassify state-approved medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
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Testifying before Congress in 2024, the former Transportation Secretary made clear that rescheduling would not significantly change federal drug testing regulations, stating that the 1988 drug testing regulations explicitly mandate certain employers to screen for cannabis regardless of its placement in the CSA. “The rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III … would not alter DOT’s [the US Department of Transportation’s] marijuana testing requirements with respect to the regulated community,” he said.
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“Suspicionless marijuana testing in the workplace is not now, nor has it ever been, an evidence-based policy,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano wrote in an op-ed in The Hill. “Rather, this discriminatory practice is a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s ‘war on drugs.’ But times have changed; attitudes have changed, and in most places, marijuana laws have changed. It is time for workplace policies, and for federal workplace drug testing policies in particular, to adapt to this new reality and to cease punishing employees for activities they engage in during their off-hours that pose no legitimate workplace safety threat."
.
The memo, dated May 26, affirms that there has been no change in drug testing-related policy despite the Justice Department’s decision to reclassify state-approved medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
.
Testifying before Congress in 2024, the former Transportation Secretary made clear that rescheduling would not significantly change federal drug testing regulations, stating that the 1988 drug testing regulations explicitly mandate certain employers to screen for cannabis regardless of its placement in the CSA. “The rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III … would not alter DOT’s [the US Department of Transportation’s] marijuana testing requirements with respect to the regulated community,” he said.
.
“Suspicionless marijuana testing in the workplace is not now, nor has it ever been, an evidence-based policy,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano wrote in an op-ed in The Hill. “Rather, this discriminatory practice is a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s ‘war on drugs.’ But times have changed; attitudes have changed, and in most places, marijuana laws have changed. It is time for workplace policies, and for federal workplace drug testing policies in particular, to adapt to this new reality and to cease punishing employees for activities they engage in during their off-hours that pose no legitimate workplace safety threat."
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