A Wells Fargo analyst claims the trucker shortages and the rising cost of consumer goods the U.S. has been dealing with is at least partially caused by cannabis testing mandates. The analyst, Chris Harvey, said this during a recent conference call.

“If you’ve listened to one conference call or a thousand conference calls, what have you heard? Logistics, transportation costs, trucker costs all going higher and that’s going to continue to occur,” Harvey said. “And the reason being is very simple. And some of you know this and some, this may be new… It’s really about drug testing. We’ve legalized marijuana in some states but, obviously, not all but some. And what you have as a trucker is you have a federal mandate for drug testing.”

Ellen Komp, deputy director of California NORML, told Cannabis News Box that she’s read research that seems to show that this is true. Drug testing certainly isn’t the only problem the industry is facing, but it appears to be a significant problem.

“The federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse took effect January 6, 2020,” Komp said. “As far as I know, it’s the first time that states have shared
information about failed drug tests with other states. I assume it came from some big federal bill on roadway safety, but it’s based on misconceptions about drug testing as it’s currently being done.”

Komp told Cannabis News Box that hair and urine testing “aren’t helpful anywhere.” These kinds of tests may find inactive THC metabolites in someone’s system, but that does not mean they’re intoxicated. It simply means they consumed cannabis at some point in the past several days or weeks, which certainly could have been when they were not on the job.

“For both the roadway and the workplace, it would be better to move to impairment tests like airline pilots take: computer-based programs like Predictive Safety has that can detect poor performance due to drugs, alcohol, stress, or fatigue (the latter being a big reason for truck accidents, e.g. the one that Tracy Morgan was in),” Komp said.

This isn’t just a problem in the truck driving industry. Many industries drug test their workers and often fire people who test positive for cannabis, but many who are fired aren’t consuming cannabis while they’re working. These kinds of companies don’t fire people who consume alcohol when they’re not working but do fire people who consume cannabis in the same way. Furthermore, many are using cannabis for its medical benefits.