The Department of Transportation is proposing using workers’ saliva to testfor the presence of THC, rather than urine. Since THC stays in the body for so long, testing urine could mean someone consumed THC sometime in the past few weeks but is not impaired at work. The department believes testing saliva would more accurately determine if someone is impaired or has recently consumed cannabis.

“The U.S. Department of Transportation is proposing to amend the transportation industry drug testing program procedures regulation to
include oral fluid testing. This will give employers a choice that will help combat employee cheating on urine drug tests and provide a more economical, less intrusive means of achieving the safety goals of the program,” the Department of Transportation wrote.

As the proposal states, employers would still be able to test for THC using workers’ urine if they choose to. The change would simply give employers the choice of using saliva instead, which is a less invasive process.

“This will give employers a choice that will help combat employee cheating on urine drug tests and provide a more economical, less intrusive means of achieving the safety goals of the program,” the Department of Transportation wrote.

Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, told Cannabis News Box that they support “support performance impairment testing, not drug detection testing.”

“Oral fluid tests typically detect either THC or its metabolite for a period of one to two days post-exposure – a timetable that is significantly shorter than that associated with urinalysis. The latter may detect the presence of carboxy-THC for weeks or even months following abstinence,”
NORML wrote in a statement.

Over 72,000 truck drivers have been suspended for failing a drug test, according to an analysis of recent suspensions. The U.S. is currently facing a shortage of truck drivers, and many believe it’s partially because these transportation companies are doing drug tests. If they were simply doing impairment tests, there might not be such a large shortage.

Many legalization advocates believe employers and law enforcement should not be allowed to test for the presence of THC at all and should always
rely on impairment tests. Until there’s a scientific way to tell that someone is currently impaired due to cannabis use, which would be extremely difficult to accomplish, they feel people shouldn’t be punished for using cannabis if they may not be impaired at all.