Not a pot head

are not favored by the elite?

which elite hasn't been hit with novacane,

Mccain has had plenty of doses of heroin, or novicane in his lifetime, and boy i imagine he liked it...

Rockstars love these drugs

Athletes, even politicians.........if you look into to it enough, Mexico's last president might have been on to something when he legalized small amounts of these drugs.......

your body ache, a little nova cane might do the trick.....

you shatter a hip, medical marijuana edibles, or novicane might help you out......

and the government would turn a profit just like Bush now with the parmecuticals.......the kick these are natural remedies, not the chemicals people are taking now

 

Didn't realize that this turned into a debate about weather or not it should be legal.

Fact is, for now it is illegal.........I would suspect that a lot of employers will look at it the same way I do, I have formed my opinion from being in the military for 20 years and having seen many test conducted. I am not calling anyone here a liar just showing how many think......... Don't know how many time you had to go in for a drug test but the 1 time you do go in, you pop positive and then have a story saying I only did it 1 time in your life......... Either 1- you have the worst luck imaginable or 2- your lying about how often you use....... Which one of these 2 choices do you think the employer is going to choose? Now he is looking at you as being a drug user and a liar.

On the flip side, if you havn't lost your license, somebody will hire you........There is a guy that I have known for years, been in and out of treatment several times for crack and meth. Somehow he always manages to get a job driving a truck..........Granted, not the most reputable companies, but a job none-the-less........Friggin amazing to me how he manages to do it, after a year or two on the road you will think he might have it whipped and he will get hooked up with the crap again.......

What is scary is people have to know that he has done this while driving..........

 

PSAnderson, A retired DOT officer? Let me guess, you still wear your bullet proof vest and peashooter? I know several people including my brother who have showed hot on a urine test and guess what, my brother is still working for the same company that he has for the last 16 years. He showed up hot even though he doesn't drink or do drugs, and so they retested him and he showed up clean. I can't remember if is was in the 72 hour range but maybe it was. I have another friend that worked for my best friends parents trucking company and he never could pass a test but aside from that he was one of the best truckers out there. He was never late, he didn't smoke when he drove, he didn't tailgate or treat 4wheeler like crap, and was a just a nice guy in general. We drove the same linehaul route for almost a year together so I knew him well. All his drug screen files must of came up missing because he worked for the company for 8 years. One time me and the owner (my best friend's Dad) were talking about this particuliar driver and his afterwork habits and my friends Dad just smiled and said he was a good driver, then walked away. There are several local trucking companies and construction companies that don't send out the forms that ask previous employers about a persons drug screen history. When I ran under my own authority for 5 years I had to join a drug pool consortium (don't know if I spelled that right) and I was called in about 3 times. One time I never did go take the test, one of the other times I must of waited about a month or two before I took the test and the other time I just happened to be within a mile a drug testing place and I was layed over waiting for my next load, so I went ahead and did it. I never took a pre-hire drug test for myself and when I was audited I got a slap on the wrist for that but nothing more. I never did hire another driver, but I can tell that I could easily had overlooked someone that had a previous positive drug test. If the rest of his driving record, work history, etc. are good there will be some other trucking company that will overlook that. You may know the rules in the book, but I know the rules that people play by. Next your going to tell me that no company would ever overlook a drivers that puts false records in his logbook.....LOL.

 

LEGO: I wish I knew the name of the company you worked for with "another Friend". He probably tested positive & the carrier violated the rules. They could be creating their own problems. But wait. Someday people like this will cause a civil complaint (lawsuit) after an accident that will allow someone to take his wages for the rest of his life, that is assuming he can get a job after prison for at the least manslaughter.

And yes, there is a possibility that an initial test for positive can come back negative as in your first example!

By the way.......I have never carried a weapon on the job nor worn a vest. I was a federal agent, not someone with whom you usually deal, i.e. a state cop. I had the right to shut down carriers for some of the things you suggest above, and have done so in the past. That was what YOU, a U.S. citizen, paid me to do through your federal income tax! State cops can't do that. Also, if a driver continues to drive after a positive even if the carrier violates the rules, then that driver could also face federal (not state) criminal charges that if convicted, he/she could face up to $500,000.00 in fines, and/or up to 5-years in a federal pen.

 

The bottom line is this; some states say pot is legal. However, if you drive a truck in interstate commerce & you test positive, you can't drive a commercial vehicle. It is for your safety, as well as the driving public. It's the law of the United States. If you don't like it, then get the law changed, or else run for the U.S. Congress & see how far you get when attempting to change this law.

 

Come on You inhaled, let it all out.....i'm sure the smell would of woke you up

 

And this seems to be the whole point. I do not like the drug laws. But as long as it IS that law, it needs to be obeyed. If people don't like it, get it changed.

OTOH, as I posted in another thread, as long as we have so many folks making careers out of the war on drugs, as long as we have the drug folks making so much money out of drugs, and as long as we have the various lobbying interests pushing the laws, common sense about reform of drug laws will not happen.

No matter what happens, nobody should operate any type of motor vehicle while under the influence. Drugs, alcohol, exhaustion. I personally think there should be a law against driving while stupid, but then I couldn't drive either!

 

BIG DON: Stupidity is not illegal. If it were we'd all probably be in jail.

 

The FMCSA is just about ready to initiate (probably next summer) the federal driver information system. When enacted, motor carriers will no longer need to perform time consuming previous employment checks. Instead, the mandate will be to logon to a website run by the USDOT/FMCSA for previous employment. It will be confirmed that a carrier is using the system during a compliance review (carrier audit where the feds come to the carrier). All motor carriers will be required to input data into this system as well as retrieve previous employment from this system. Failure to use the system will cause civil penalties (fines) to the carrier. After the system is in place, the FMCSA is in the process of passing another rule whereby (assuming the new rule is passed), will disqualify the CDL portion of a driving license of any driver that has tested positive. Once the driver provides proof of 382.605 (SAP & treatment) the CDL portion of the license will be reinstated. From the legal perspective, FMCSA claims they have created a rule that does not violate the privacy laws in this regard. It may however come down to the Supreme Court somewhat like the Hours of Service rules in 1938 when the Supreme Court stated yes the rule violated the 5th amendment rights of drivers but the Government may usurp the rights of the few for the well-being of the many.

Perhaps this will be some kind of incentive for pot heads in trucks to quit but I'm not betting on it.

From the old retired federal DOT official.

 

I also find it remarkable that in the airline industry, the FAA states there is a 2% positive rate. The FRA (railroad) states there is a 4% rate while the FMCSA states the positive rate in randoms alone is 26%.