DOT Switches Up Marijuana Rules, Ya Heard?!

Yo, what up? It’s ya boy Dan and I’m here to tell you about some wild stuff going down at the Space Force and the US Department of Transportation (DOT). So, check it out, the Space Force is struggling to hire enough peeps to keep up with their national security needs. But, they just announced this pilot program where they might give a chance to people who test positive for THC to join their ranks. THC is the main psychoactive component in weed, if ya know what I mean.

Now, the DOT is taking note of this and making some changes themselves due to all the drama caused by Covid messing up the supply chain. These guys oversee all federal roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure, including truck drivers, ship captains, train engineers and airline pilots. And during Covid, there weren’t enough drivers for freight. It’s getting better now, but things aren’t looking great for the future.

So, what’s DOT doing? They’re changing their drug testing policy for truckers and other transit workers who use marijuana off the job. Basically, they’re gonna use oral saliva tests as an alternative to urine tests. This is similar to how they test for alcohol. The new test shows what’s in your system for the past 24 hours and a deeper dive shows up to 80 hours (that’s like 3.5 days).

The thing is, urine tests for THC are hella unreliable since metabolites can show up for weeks or even months after you smoke up. This means people who aren’t impaired on the job can get a false positive and lose their job because of something they did on their free time. This ain’t fair, yo! The DOT data actually showed that tens of thousands of commercial truckers tested positive for weed but weren’t impaired on the job. A lot of these peeps refused to return to work which contributed to the labor shortage.

So, the DOT is bringing weed in line with alcohol testing. Nobody wants a trucker driving under the influence, am I right? This way, people can do what they want on their free time and not worry about losing their job due to a messed up drug test.

And that’s not all, my dudes. The military also changed their policy for veterans who use medical marijuana. They won’t lose their eligibility for care and services from the Department of Veterans Affairs. It’s about time these guys get some recognition for using weed to help them cope with PTSD and other conditions.

Overall, it seems like the world is changing their views on weed. More and more people are realizing that it’s not as bad as they thought it was. Maybe one day we’ll see it legalized everywhere!