Washington — Truck drivers and other safety-sensitive transportation workers can’t legally use state-licensed medical marijuana despite federal action to ease restrictions under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the Department of Transportation recently clarified.
In a notice issued May 15, DOT’s Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance and agency general counsel state that “marijuana use is not compatible with safety-sensitive functions.”
DOT adds: “Currently, there is no instance” when a medical review officer “could verify a laboratory-confirmed marijuana positive drug test result as ‘negative’ when an employee claims the positive was caused by a state-licensed marijuana product.”
An April 28 Drug Enforcement Administration final rule reclassified marijuana as a Schedule III controlled substance from Schedule I, legalizing state-regulated medical cannabis. Despite the rescheduling, state-dispensed marijuana isn’t considered an approved substance by the Food and Drug Administration.
Even if a worker presents to a medical review officer documentation such as a state-issued medical marijuana card or physician recommendation, these “do not qualify as a ‘legitimate medical explanation’” under DOT regulations, the department says.
