Show All » Personal » Welcome
Monday, December 3, 2012Medical POT DOT say NO
DOT
OFFICE OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL POLICY AND COMPLIANCE NOTICE
Recently, some states passed initiatives to permit use of
marijuana for so-called "recreational” purposes.
We have had several inquiries about whether these state
initiatives will have an impact upon the Department of Transportation’s
longstanding regulation about the use of marijuana by safety‐sensitive transportation employees –
pilots, school bus drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, subway operators,
aircraft maintenance personnel, transit fire‐armed security personnel, ship captains, and pipeline emergency
response personnel, among others.
We want to make it perfectly clear that the state
initiatives will have no bearing on the Department of Transportation’s
regulated drug testing program. The Department of Transportation’s Drug and
Alcohol Testing Regulation – 49 CFR Part 40 – does not authorize the use of
Schedule I drugs, including marijuana, for any reason.
Therefore, Medical Review Officers (MROs) will not
verify a drug test as negative based upon learning that the employee used
"recreational marijuana” when states have passed "recreational
marijuana” initiatives.
We also firmly reiterate that an MRO will not verify a
drug test negative based upon information that a physician recommended that the
employee use "medical marijuana” when states have passed "medical
marijuana” initiatives.
It is important to note that marijuana remains a drug
listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. It remains unacceptable
for any safety‐sensitive
employee subject to drug testing under the Department of Transportation’s drug
testing regulations to use marijuana.
We want to assure the traveling public that our
transportation system is the safest it can possibly be.
Jim L. Swart
Director
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance
Department of Transportation
December 3, 2012