Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1001084
W EEKLY EDITION JULY 4, 2018 Legal Marijuana: Driving the Portable Sanitation Industry Crazy Part 1 ….. continued By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director A little bit goes a long way – but how far? Then there is the matter of "legally impaired" versu s "acceptable to drive a truck." At this point, there is no consensus on where the line between those two things might be. With alcohol, FMCSA rules say you cannot drive if you: • have a blood alcohol concentration .04 or greater (some regulations do not p ermit you to continue at work if you are found to have a blood alcohol concentration of .02 to .039); • have used any prohibited drug. In addition, you must not use alcohol in the four hours (8 hours for flight crew members and flight attendants) before rep orting for service or after receiving notice to report. With THC there is no federally recognized impairment level because there is zero tolerance for the drug in federal trucking regulations. The matter thus falls to the individual states, and it is com plicated by the fact that past use of marijuana will show up in a drug test for as much as a month after the most casual use. There's also a problem with the science. Decades of prohibition on the use of marijuana have limited science's knowledge of its effects on driving. Studies to date haven't been able to determine a correlation between THC levels and an inability to drive safely, according to both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Automobile Association. So if you l ive in a state where use of marijuana is allowed, and you run a company where you could – in theory – use a driver who occasionally takes a hit, you and your insurance company have nothing to help you decide how much is too much. Just say no . In most cas es, the answer on portable sanitation drivers' use of marijuana is going to be a categorical "no." Whether this is because you live in a state that hasn't legalized it yet, your company falls under the FMCSA, you personally are against it – or all of the a bove – you need to have a clear policy explaining this prohibition and how it is enforced in your company. In Part II of this article we will take a look at policies throughout the portable sanitation in industry. Be sure to check the July 18 issue of Ass ociation Insigh t ! P AGE 4