Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Blog

The use of medical marijuana by truck drivers will continue to constitute a violation of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced.

It is an important clarification. As our Atlanta trucking accident attorneys reported recently on our Georgia Truck Accident Lawyers Blog, truckers are permitted to use narcotic pain relievers and other prescription medication under a doctor's care. The same medication would be refused to a commercial airline pilot.

An announcement last year concerning the fed's tolerance for medical marijuana left open the possibility that truckers could justify smoking marijuana for medical purposes.

The Department of Justice issued a memorandum that essentially said that prosecutors should not spend federal resources in prosecuting cases involving marijuana in situations where a defendant was legally using the drug in accordance with a state's medical marijuana law.

The clarification means that stance will have no bearing on drug testing for truckers.

"Medical Review Officers will not verify a drug test as negative based upon information that a physician recommended that the employee use 'medical marijuana,'" the Department of Transportation said in the announcement. "It remains unacceptable for any safety-sensitive employee subject to drug testing under the Department of Transportation's drug testing regulations to use marijuana."

Fourteen states have now legalized marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

And earlier this week, the federal government announced that veterans would not face loss of VA benefits for using medical marijuana.