THE AMERICAN Trucking Associations has asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to clarify how potential federal cannabis rescheduling would affect mandatory drug testing for truck drivers.
In an Aug. 14 letter, ATA said it is “deeply concerned” that reclassifying marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act could undermine existing safety protocols that are critical to ensuring drivers are not impaired on the road.
ATA’s main concern
ATA Chief Operating Officer Dan Horvath wrote that the group does not take a formal position on legalization itself, but worries that rescheduling marijuana without explicit safeguards could erode the authority of the Department of Transportation to test commercial motor vehicle drivers and other safety-sensitive workers.
The association pointed to a specific risk: if marijuana is moved from Schedule I to Schedule III, it could trigger changes to the Department of Health and Human Services’ mandatory federal drug testing guidelines, which DOT programs must follow.
ATA warned that if those guidelines no longer mandate testing for marijuana, the result could be a dangerous regulatory gap. “There is currently no proven, widely accepted standard to determine marijuana impairment at roadside,” Horvath wrote. “Without the deterrent and detection power of marijuana testing, such preventable tragedies will only become more frequent.”
What’s at stake for trucking
The trucking industry has long argued that drug testing is one of the only tools available to keep impaired drivers off the road. Since 2020, cannabis has accounted for about 60% of all positive employer drug tests reported to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s
Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse.
The ATA cited recent deadly crashes where marijuana was detected in a driver’s system to illustrate why testing authority must not be weakened.At the same time, the industry is facing a driver shortage, with tens of thousands of drivers sidelined after testing positive for marijuana.
A 2022 sur vey by the American Transportation Research Institute found that more than 72.4% of drivers support loosening cannabis testing rules. That tension has fueled debate about whether zero-tolerance policies are sustainable in states where marijuana is legal.
Calls for federal clarity
The trucking group has raised these concerns before, including with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. In congressional testimony, Buttigieg said rescheduling would not change drug testing regulations.Now, with President Donald Trump signaling he may act on rescheduling within weeks, the association is pushing for written assurances.The ATA urged the DOT to coordinate with HHS, the Department of Justice and lawmakers to preserve its ability to test drivers and to update technical standards if necessary.