News

Jul 19, 2023

ATRI Releases Study of Cannabis Legalization Impacts

Updated: Jun 6, 2023 Even as states continue to make recreational

Updated: Jun 6, 2023

Even as states continue to make recreational marijuana more easily available, a positive driver test for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, takes a driver out of service and affects the trucking industry, which is already dealing with driver shortages, according to a new report released June 5 by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), a nonprofit transportation research organization.

Increasingly, marijuana can be bought at a store and used solely for recreational purposes, according to the report "Impacts of Marijuana Legalization on the Trucking Industry," and it's not uncommon to see billboards advertising marijuana along highways.

While marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act, 23 states now have laws legalizing recreational marijuana—up from 10 states in 2019, when the ATRI released its last study on marijuana legalization.

The report covers several topics related to state-level marijuana legalization, including:

The ATRI estimates current national commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver shortages at between 65,000 and 80,000. A survey of truck drivers for the study found that a majority (72.4%) support the easing of federal marijuana laws. Some suggested drivers are leaving the industry for jobs that don't require federal drug testing.

The report speculated that potential drivers might be dissuaded from entering the trucking industry due to preemployment drug testing but couldn't quantify the size of the potential driver pool. The study also couldn't identify the number of drivers leaving the industry because they tested positive for THC and failed to complete the return-to-duty process.

The report offered two possibilities for federal action in response to state legalization: maintaining the current prohibition policy, whereby marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, and continuing to remove thousands of drivers annually from the industry because of positive tests for past marijuana use or easing restrictions, possibly removing marijuana from its Schedule I designation.

The report offered several suggestions for implementing the latter option, including: