Unsafe Highways? More than 100,000 truckers have lost jobs due to positive marijuana tests
As the transportation industry grapples with a persistent labor shortage, would a change in marijuana testing help?
With a national labor shortage in the trucking industry, a new study indicates more than 100,000 truck drivers have left the industry in the last three years due to testing positive for marijuana use.
On Sunday afternoon, a flatbed truck overturned on I-540, outside Raleigh, North Carolina. The highway patrol, according to one news report, believes the truck’s driver may have been impaired.
In March, a tractor-trailer veered onto the shoulder of I-81 in Eastern Tennessee and hit a van, killing four of five men who were changing a tire. Though they do not indicate whether it was alcohol or marijuana, police believe the truck’s driver was impaired.
While neither news reports indicate what the drivers were impaired by, according to government statistics, it is 10.5 times more likely to be drug-related than alcohol related and the usage of Schedule 1 drugs (mostly marijuana) by truck drivers seem to be only increasing.
As unions—particularly the Teamsters—eagerly seek to unionize the cannabis industry, marijuana use, drug-testing in the midst of a persistent driver shortage, and highway-safety policies seem to be on a collision course.