Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1143916
W EEKLY EDITION JULY 17, 2019 Legal Marijuana: Driving the Portable Sanitation Industry Crazy…Part 1 By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director A l i ttl e bi t g oe s a lo n g w a y – b u t h o w f ar ? Then there is the matter of "legally impaired" versus "acceptable to drive a truck." At this po int, 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 permit you to continue at work if you are fou nd to have a blood alcohol concentration of .02 to .039); • have used any prohibited drug 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 i ndividual states, and it is complicated 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 limi ted 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 Autom obile Association. So if you live 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 . J u s t s ay n o . In most cases, 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 above – 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 throu ghout the portable san itation industry. Be sure to ch eck the July 24 issue of Association Insight! - KK P AGE 12