Medical marijuana still off-limits for bus drivers
The U.S. Department of Transportation clarifies that the Department of Justice's guidelines on medical marijuana prosecution have no bearing on the drug testing program for safety-sensitive transportation employees....
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a notice on Thursday to clarify that medical marijuana remains forbidden for safety-sensitive transportation employees, including school bus drivers.
The clarification comes in light of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) recently issued guidelines for federal prosecutors in states that allow medical use of marijuana. The guidelines say that federal resources should not be used to prosecute people who use or sell medical marijuana in compliance with state laws.
The DOT said it had received several inquiries about whether the DOJ guidelines have an impact on the DOT's regulation on marijuana.
"We want to make it perfectly clear that the DOJ guidelines will have no bearing on the Department of Transportation's regulated drug testing program," said Jim Swart, director of the DOT's Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance. "It remains unacceptable for any safety-sensitive employee subject to drug testing under the Department of Transportation's drug testing regulations to use marijuana."
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