Could use some advice

IMO, it's not possible to train on your own, show up at DMV and get your CDL, unless you know someone with a truck & trailer and is willing to ignore his insurance. You will need either a CDL school or company CDL school. You can't rent semi-trucks unless you are a business or have many thousands for a deposit.

Pick a company and then decide how to get the license. It may never come up, but please DO NOT LEASE A TRUCK, NO MATTER WHAT. Some shady companies like to whisper "be your own boss" into newbie ears and see who takes the bait. There is always time later to "be your own boss." Going bankrupt isn't going to make things better.

 

If your weed use is incident to relief of symptoms brought on by military service, you might want to reconsider this line of work.

By your own admission you are a daily user, so yeah, you ARE trying to "manipulate" something.

You can "expect" the tests to "come up" for PRE-EMPLOYMENT, RANDOM, POST-ACCIDENT, and REASONABLE SUSPICION. Funny thing about "random" is how a driver they want to fire always gets "random'd" before they pull the trigger.
Drive or smoke weed. Make a choice and stick with it. You can't do both for very long.

I used to drive. Now I'm a bus mechanic, but I'm still subject to DOT testing. Now my kids are grown and I'm looking to get back to trucking. Also, I was a daily user years ago but I had to leave it behind. I'd love nothing better than to spark one up, but I can't, because my CDL is my living, and "this is the business we chose".

Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

I know a guy that worked for a beer distributor. At one grocery store he had to check in with some loud mouth obese woman that constantly berated him for no reason. He got his fill of it so started shorting the delivery by one case, every delivery. It took the store a year to figure out what was going on. Of course the beer distributor fired him and he laughed all the way out the door.
I've done grocery store deliveries and that's a horrible way to make a living; they hire the community misfits to work there and they're all on a power trip.

 

You can go about getting your cdl with no school.For me it happened really by accident I got a job at a grocery company (Winn Dixie) working on the yard started switching after a while did that for a year then started driving.Now while I was on the yard didn't have a cdl when they ask if I wanted to drive they gave me a certificate to take to DMV for my road test then all I had to do was the written test.But my point is if you look around at jobs like that where maybe you could start as a yard jockey and they will move you up might work out good for you.