Need advice to pass on

For all intents and purposes, your "friend's" career is over.

As someone stated, "he" is technically eligible to be hired after doing the SAP but it'll be at least ten years before any company will take a risk on "him". Even then, it'll likely be a company that will not be pleasant to work for.

 

Even though it is legal in several states, it's still illegal at the federal level, which means that it's illegal for CDL holders. At any rate a positive test for something like pot is effectively a driving career death sentence.

Unfortunately, that also eliminates a person from being able to claim unemployment or utilize other resources that are available for displaced workers. As someone that is in the process of getting out of trucking (not for drug related reasons - just burnt out with it), I might suggest that whomever is in that kind of position hopefully has other skills or another trade to fall back on, otherwise it's back to entry level jobs like fast food or call centers.

 

What kills me is that our livelihood depends few things. They are really simple things to keep in check. Yet some guys/gals dont seem to think clearly or worry about protecting their livelihood.

Dont get moving violations on your driving record,... bad,.. mkaay.
Dont fail a drug test,... bad,.. mkaay.
Dont damage your equipment or private property,.. bad,.. mkaay.
Dont run over your co-driver while he/she is checking something under the truck,.. bad,.. mkaay.

Tossed the last one in as humor,.. I just dont understand why some people even bother taking a drug test knowing they might have a problem. I know you cant refuse,.. but if you know you need your job,.. wouldnt a more legal substitute (Get drunk instead of baked) be a better hobby?

Maybe I'm coming across as too harsh here,. but I feel this should be commone sense. Your job is on the line. Isnt that important to you?

Hurst

 

Is liver failure really a better substitute? When I was a teenager I smoked pot. Big whoop. Till life settled in and I realized I cannot do that so heck ill drink instead. Doctor informed me last summer that if I continue to drink it will kill me due to my liver... I am 23

 

I never said it was better.

If you decide to make trucking your career,.. dont get high.

I dont care whats better or what you do in your free time. Trucking is a safety sensitive career choice. As such you will be drug tested. You know the rules before you decided to get into this career.

If you feel you are above the law,.. then dont be upset if you get caught and lose your job.

Hurst

 

I have to go with the others here. Your pal's career is DOA for 7-10 years even after getting off rehab.

IF it had been a painkiller with a prescription you would get read the riot act but you'd have a chance. With it being an illicit substance, no chance in hell any reputable carrier considers hiring.

 

He'll need to convince a man...face to face, with an owner..to get a job...
Forget the big carriers with HR departments and stuff..You wont get passed the cheesy 3rd party screeners even

I wonder, is the drug revealed to employers? A guy might hire him down the road if its weed, maybe not for crack

 

So you went from pot to booze between the ages of ~17 and 23, and you already have liver problems?
Do you drink a gallon of hard stuff every day?

Maybe you should have stayed with weed, and jobs that don't test for it.
Maybe you should drink less.
Maybe you should... the list goes on.

The thing is, (well, the things are...)
Weed doesn't mess with your health like alcohol.
Testing positive for either will get you expelled from trucking forever.
Doctors can't be trusted very far.
(I'm sure we could have very long conversations on each point.)

And, perhaps, life hasn't settled in quite so much yet as you think it has.
Heck, at 23, you are still a newbie at Life.

 

That is a major malfunction...tell him to seek other forms of none dot related jobs.