ATA Red-Flags DOJ's Proposed Marijuana Policy Change

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the Justice Department's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to reschedule the drug at a press briefing on Thursday.

"If finalized, marijuana will no longer hold the higher-level classification it currently holds over fentanyl and meth drugs driving our nation's overdose epidemic, and it will remove burdensome, long-standing barriers to critical research" Jean-Pierre said.

"This announcement builds on the work President Biden has already done to pardon a record number of federal offenses for simply possessing marijuana."

According to DOJ, the proposed change is consistent with the view of the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use "as well as HHS's views about marijuana's abuse potential and level of physical or psychological dependence." HHS recommended the change to the DOJ's Drug Enforcement Agency last year.

In responding to the proposal, ATA noted that the Department of Transportation's current drug and alcohol testing authority is limited by HHS' Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, which allow motor carriers to test for Schedule I or II drugs but not for Schedule III drugs.

"If this rulemaking is permitted to move forward without appropriate regulatory review, oversight and deliberation, ATA is concerned that it will severely curtail the ability of motor carriers and other employers of safety-sensitive positions to maintain a safe working environment, threatening the safety of all road users" said Dan Horvath, ATA's senior vice president of regulatory affairs and safety policy.

In a letter Wednesday to DOJ, HHS and DOT in anticipation of the rescheduling, Horvath pointed out that marijuana represented close to 60% of all positive employer drug tests of regulated commercial drivers reported to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, based on FMCSA's latest data.

He also cited recent examples of fatal crashes involving truck drivers who had used marijuana, including a multivehicle crash in Indiana last year that killed seven people and a crash this year in Texas involving a cement-truck driver who hit a school bus head-on, killing one child.

"Rescheduling marijuana without an explicit drug testing carveout for safety-sensitive workers could ultimately lead to more devastating tragedies like these and add to the ever-increasing death toll on our nation's roadways" Horvath wrote.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association had a more cautious response to the proposed rule.

"OOIDA has a large, diverse membership and we are in the process of garnering feedback" said OOIDA spokesman George O'Connor in a statement.

"There are still plenty of questions to be addressed on the topic, particularly because a person who tests positive is not necessarily under the influence and may not have been under the influence for weeks."

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