A railroad employees strike could have been averted following information of a tentative deal between unions and railway corporations this week, however a congressman says the battle additionally speaks to the broader want to deal with labor and provide chain points, together with ending employment-related marijuana testing insurance policies.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) mentioned the difficulty and different facets of hashish reform throughout an look on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Thursday. He stated that the railroad employee deal is “welcome information” and the “state of affairs that the employees confronted was actually insupportable.”
Engaged on the railroad requires specialised abilities, and whereas these jobs are usually well-paid, there’s been a gradual erosion of office advantages and job safety that has created stress and contributed to provide chain issues, the congressman stated, including that one a part of the answer can be to get rid of drug testing mandates for marijuana, which discourages would-be candidates and might get certified employees fired or in any other case punished even when they aren’t underneath the affect whereas at work.
“A whole lot of these shortcomings by way of the availability chain are that individuals don’t qualify for the roles as a result of they’ve used marijuana someday within the final six weeks, which doesn’t have an effect on their potential to do their job, however it throws them out of the consideration,” Blumenauer stated.
The congressman additionally touted a chunk of bipartisan hashish analysis laws he’s sponsoring that cleared the Home in July and is predicted to be taken up and superior via the Senate in brief order.
The Medical Marijuana Analysis Act doesn’t particularly deal with marijuana office insurance policies, however it’s meant to streamline research by eradicating onerous boundaries that scientists at the moment need to undergo to entry the Schedule I substance for research functions.
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There’s widespread, bipartisan help for hashish analysis—and particularly for creating expertise that may decide lively impairment from THC as an alternative of merely figuring out inactive cannabinoid metabolites that may keep in an individual’s system for days or perhaps weeks after consumption
If employers had a way to check for lively impairment when an individual is suspected of being intoxicated from hashish on the job, office insurance policies may very well be theoretically revised to implement that expertise and permit off-duty marijuana use, which may encourage candidates and safeguard employees.
Months earlier than the specter of a railroad employees strike introduced itself, Blumenauer wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, arguing that insurance policies on drug testing truckers and different industrial drivers for marijuana are unnecessarily costing individuals their jobs and contributing to provide chain points.
The congressman cited DOT information exhibiting that tens of 1000’s of drivers are being disqualified due to stringent drug screening insurance policies round THC. He stated that whereas no person needs drivers impaired on the roads, there aren’t assessments that may detect lively impairment.
Whereas Buttigieg hasn’t particularly weighed in on DOT marijuana testing coverage, he did marketing campaign on legalizing hashish and decriminalizing different at the moment illicit medicine whereas working for president in 2020.
DOT did lately challenge a proposal to permit saliva-based THC assessments as different choice to urine-based screenings. Relying on frequency of use, lively cannabinoids are usually detectable in saliva wherever from one to 24 hours after use, relatively than weeks for urine.
Throughout Blumenauer’s C-SPAN look on Thursday, he additionally talked about two different items of marijuana reform laws that he foresees passing this Congress. One can be one other invoice of his to advertise army veterans’ medical hashish entry, and the opposite facilities round marijuana banking.
The Congressional Hashish Caucus co-chair signaled that talks about an in-the-works package deal of incremental hashish reforms are progressing positively. The so-called “SAFE Plus” omnibus is predicted to offer protections for banks that work with state-legal marijuana companies and in addition deal with different “racial justice” points, the congressman stated.
Whereas Blumenauer prompt in he interview that there have been plans to place the laws in a forthcoming persevering with decision “to maintain the federal government working” after the tip of the 2022 Fiscal Yr on September 30, a spokesperson later advised Marijuana Second that he misspoke and was extra broadly referring to the prospects of incorporating varied hashish reforms as a part of a bipartisan legislative package deal.
Negotiations over the marijuana omnibus have additionally concerned conversations about provisions coping with points similar to veterans’ medical hashish entry, marijuana analysis and expungements.
The Home has handed the standalone SAFE Banking Act, sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), in some type seven occasions now. However it has persistently stalled within the Senate, the place management has insisted on enacting complete reform first, or not less than one thing extra incremental that also addresses fairness and racial justice.
Blumenauer’s remarks come as hashish enterprise leaders from throughout the U.S. are on Capitol Hill for the Nationwide Hashish Business Affiliation (NCIA) Foyer Days, with greater than 100 conferences scheduled with lawmakers and employees this week to advocate to coverage adjustments.
Bicameral SAFE Banking sponsors—Perlmutter and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)—spoke in regards to the path ahead at a NCIA-organized press convention on Wednesday.
Perlmutter stated that he feels the stage is ready to get one thing enacted “by the tip of this yr,” however he’s additionally more and more prepared to leverage his position on the Home Guidelines Committee to carry up laws just like the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA) if his colleagues refused to motion on hashish reform.
With respect to the SAFE Plus invoice, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) lately stated that he anticipated the laws to be filed someday after November. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), one other Congressional Hashish Caucus co-chair, advised Marijuana Second on Tuesday that he expects an introduction both in November or December, although he harassed that the timing stays fluid.