In 2019, a stunning two-thirds of Americans told Pew that legal marijuana should be the norm, up from 16% in 1989.
Cannabis has quickly gained public acceptance, despite data indicating that it is significantly less hazardous than banned narcotics such as heroin or cocaine, as well as legal substances such as alcohol and nicotine.
The $800 billion trucking sector in the United States is not keeping up with the shift in public sentiment. In reality, it’s going in the opposite direction. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration established the drug and alcohol clearinghouse in January 2020. Major industry organizations, such as the American Trucking Associations, advocated for its establishment.
All commercial drivers who have failed a drug or alcohol test are listed in the clearinghouse. Drivers who follow a return-to-duty procedure can have their names removed from the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse is intended to ensure that truck driver who has violated drug or alcohol restrictions cannot simply jump from job to job, hence increasing road safety.
It’s unknown how effective the regulation has been in terms of safety, but it has certainly removed a large number of drivers. Between January 2020 and April 2022, over 124,000 drivers were barred from commercial trucking owing to failed drug tests. Around 31,000 people have returned to work after following the return-to-duty protocol.
The great majority of breaches have involved marijuana rather than extremely addictive and deadly narcotics like opiates, amphetamines, methamphetamines, or cocaine. Since January 2020, more than 74,000 truckers who tested positive for marijuana have been barred from commercial driving. (Some of the drivers may have tested positive for additional drugs.)
A new study reveals that the emphasis on removing marijuana-smoking drivers isn’t all that wise. Researchers from the University of Tennessee, the University of Arkansas, and Iowa State University discovered that legalizing recreational marijuana reduced heavy vehicle accidents by 11% in the eight states evaluated. Six of the eight had fewer truck accidents, while two had more. (Please keep in mind that this is a preprint, which means it has not yet been peer-reviewed.)
I recently spoke with two of the researchers via Zoom: Iowa State assistant professor Jonathan Phares and University of Arkansas communications expert Ronald James Gordon.
“We’re not claiming conclusively that legalization will reduce trucking accidents,” Phares said, “but there is some evidence that legalizing, in general, does not necessarily increase accidents.” “There are some reasons why legalization could reduce accidents.”
If further research or peer review validates the findings of this study, the academics involved have urged that politicians change the Department of Transportation’s zero-tolerance policy on off-duty marijuana usage for truck drivers.
A study found that recreational legal marijuana lowered the probability of heavy truck crashes overall.
The researchers examined truck crash information from 2005 to 2019 in eight states where recreational marijuana is permitted. Six crashes were reduced, while two were increased. Crash rates decreased by 11% overall. Here is a table that summarizes those effects:
The researchers did not have a definitive explanation for why legal marijuana reduced crashes, but they did suggest several possibilities:
- Those who used to drink alcohol may have turned to marijuana. According to research, driving high is considerably less likely to result in a deadly accident than driving intoxicated. (Of course, driving when sober is the safest option.)
- Marijuana is typically eaten at home rather than in a pub or restaurant.
While total crashes decreased, marijuana usage increased in some states. To further understand this, the researchers contrasted Vermont, which experienced the greatest decline in crashes, to Nevada, which experienced the greatest increase. The following theories were proposed by Phares and Gordon:
- Vermont has significantly fewer tourists than Nevada, which means that more individuals are unfamiliar with the state’s roads. Travelers are also more likely to use marijuana outside the home, especially those visiting Las Vegas.
- Vermont has a higher population density than Nevada. Longer sections of the road increase the possibility of a collision.
Some of the researchers’ findings appear to contradict previous research on legal marijuana and driving. According to a 2021 study from Boston University, fatal car crashes involving alcohol have not decreased over the last two decades. However, fatal accidents including cannabis have more than doubled, while fatal accidents involving combined cannabis and alcohol use have more than tripled. So-called “poly-impaired” crashes have become a source of worry in jurisdictions such as Colorado, where law enforcement claims that impaired driving has contributed to a significant increase in traffic deaths.
Other research concerning marijuana and driving suggests that legalizing marijuana may increase overall accident rates but not necessarily the chance of deadly crashes.
What zero-tolerance marijuana rules imply for the trucking industry
Marijuana is permitted for medical purposes in 37 states and completely lawful in 19 others. It is still a nationally prohibited substance. Cannabidiol, sometimes known as CBD, is federally legal. Truck drivers in states where cannabis is legal are nevertheless not permitted to consume it. Because CBD can occasionally appear as THC on drug tests, many drivers avoid using it. Truck drivers, on the other hand, are permitted to drive with a blood-alcohol level of 0.04 percent.
I’ve previously proposed that politicians should explore relaxing limitations on truck drivers’ legal marijuana use. The federal government and the trucking industry as a whole have increased their efforts to catch drug-addicted truck drivers. It’s understandable to pull drivers off the road who may be under the influence of cocaine, meth, opioids, or other dangerous narcotics, but the clearinghouse has mostly excluded people who may or may not have been under the influence of marijuana at the time of their testing.
There is one key obstacle to eliminating marijuana testing while continuing to crack down on other narcotics. There is currently no technique to test if someone is under the effect of marijuana in the same way that alcohol can. Urine tests can show marijuana use from weeks ago, whereas more dangerous drugs only show up for hours or days.
Still, as I argued in 2021, there are smarter approaches to prevent truck crashes:
Tackling our nation’s crumbling infrastructure or bolstering training would be far more effective in saving lives. According to a Department of Transportation study, illegal drugs contributed to 2% of all accidents between an 18-wheeler and passenger car. Meanwhile, brake problems (a factor assigned in 29% of crashes), speeding (23%), unfamiliarity with roadways (22%) and roadway issues (20%) were far more common in such collisions.
‘The industry is rooted… in the preceding century,’ says the author.
Because of the crackdown on marijuana usage, the trucking business is severely limiting who it can hire, particularly among Generation Zs and millennials. According to a 2019 Gallup poll, approximately 22% of Americans under the age of 30 use marijuana. The American Trucking Association has stated that the high average age of a truck driver is “one of the main contributors” to what they claim is a ten of thousands-strong driver shortage. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo has identified drug testing as a major contributor to the driver shortage.
The health of our almost 2 million driver population is a far more pressing reason to relax marijuana rules than freight retention. According to a 2021 Florida Gulf Coast University study, more than 3 million Americans have medical marijuana permits. Around 65 percent reduced or discontinued their usage of another OTC medicine, with anxiety, tension, and chronic pain being the most common conditions treated with cannabis.
Truck drivers are not permitted to use cannabis to treat their own medical conditions, even if they do so while on the job. It’s especially troubling given the myriad of health difficulties that drivers face, such as musculoskeletal pain and “severe issues affecting their mental health.”
Meanwhile, truck drivers are considerably less likely to visit a doctor or have health insurance than the average employed American. Truckers are also more likely than ordinary Americans to get most lifestyle diseases, such as lung cancer and diabetes.
Relaxing marijuana laws will not cure all of these problems, but it may assist. Walter S., a former truck driver based in Indianapolis who did not want his last name used, told me in an email last year that the business was being stymied by the disparity between trucking and the rest of the country.
“Guys on prescription medicines are still rolling, alcohol is king, and what may calm the drivers down? “Ignore it,” Walter wrote. “Because the sector is ingrained in the previous century’s ethos, alcohol, and prescription medications are allowed.”
