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Dive Brief:
- The cannabis rescheduling is not expected to affect the government’s authority to require truck drivers to be tested for the drug, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg testified Thursday.
- “The impairment is, of course, a major security concern,” Buttigieg he told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Our understanding … is that it would not change the DOT’s marijuana-testing requirements.”
- Drug testing requirements refer to cannabis by name, not its drug category, Buttigieg said. “So even if he does move up his ranks, we don’t think that would have an immediate impact on that authority.”
Dive Insight:
The secretary’s response answered — at least temporarily — a major safety policy question raised by the trucking industry about President Joe Biden’s plan to reduce cannabis from a Category I substance to a Category III substance.
During the hearing, Representative Rick Crawford of Arkansas echoed the concerns expressed by the American Trucking Associations. The lobby group sent two letters to Buttigieg urging the department to allow drug testing of drivers to continue.
“The rescheduling and deregulation of marijuana will inevitably cause the number of people who drive while high to increase,” Crawford said.
Cannabis and alcohol were the most common drugs detected among all types of motorists in five geographic regions in the US, according to a 2022 report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Transportation Department does not expect the rescheduling to affect requirements for federal employees, including those with security clearances or in security-sensitive positions, Buttigieg said.
“We don’t understand that it should change … based on the redistricting decision,” Buttigieg said. “But we are still assessing any indirect effects it may have.”