A high federal well being company is proposing adjustments to drug testing insurance policies for federal employees to make clear that having a health care provider’s advice for medical marijuana or every other Schedule I drug isn’t a legitimate excuse for a optimistic drug take a look at.
The proposal from Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA), which is a part of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS), is available in a pair of notices printed within the Federal Register on Thursday.
Whereas it’s already the case that collaborating in a state medical hashish program doesn’t defend federal employees from being fired over marijuana use, the brand new language being floated for addition to urine and oral fluid testing insurance policies would additional make clear the federal authorities’s prohibitionist stance:
(iii) A doctor’s authorization or medical advice for a Schedule 1 managed substance isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic drug take a look at end result.
Past the medical advice concern, the notices additionally suggest revised language that might extra broadly make clear that passive publicity to, or unintentional ingestion of, any illicit medication—and never simply marijuana—isn’t a legitimate excuse for a optimistic urine or oral fluid take a look at.
The present policies on urine drug testing concentrate on marijuana because the one managed substance for which passive expose (i.e. secondhand smoke) or ingestion of infused meals merchandise is “not a reputable medical rationalization” for a optimistic take a look at end result:
(i) Passive publicity to marijuana smoke isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic THCA end result.
(ii) Ingestion of meals merchandise containing marijuana isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic THCA end result.
However the SAMHSA proposed expanded language in one of many new notices that might apply the coverage to any drug, whereas citing marijuana for example together with poppy seeds:
(i) Passive publicity to a drug (e.g.,publicity to secondhand marijuana smoke) isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic drug take a look at end result.
(ii) Ingestion of meals merchandise containing a drug (e.g.,merchandise containing marijuana, poppy seeds containing codeine and/or morphine) isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic urine drug take a look at end result.
Within the separate discover for oral fluid drug testing, the federal company is floating a considerably comparable enlargement from the current coverage, which states:
(i) Passive publicity to a drug (e.g., publicity to secondhand marijuana smoke) isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic drug take a look at end result.
(ii) Ingestion of meals merchandise containing marijuana isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic drug take a look at end result.
The brand new proposed language reads:
(i) Passive publicity to a drug (e.g.,publicity to secondhand marijuana smoke) isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic drug take a look at end result.
(ii) Ingestion of meals merchandise containing a drug (e.g.,merchandise containing marijuana) isn’t a reputable medical rationalization for a optimistic drug take a look at end result…
On this case, the present method already consists of all medication with regards to passive publicity, whereas focusing solely on marijuana with regards to infused meals. Beneath the revision, each classes of optimistic assessments would apply to all unlawful managed substances whereas citing hashish for example.
A 60-day public remark interval on the proposals is now open till June 6.
As extra states have moved to legalize marijuana in some type, policymakers and officers have been grappling with drug testing protocols, with various outcomes.
For instance, the director of nationwide intelligence (DNI) stated late final yr that federal employers shouldn’t outright reject safety clearance candidates over previous use and may use discretion with regards to these with hashish investments of their inventory portfolios.
FBI up to date its hiring insurance policies final yr to make it so candidates are solely mechanically disqualified from becoming a member of the company in the event that they admit to having used marijuana inside one yr of making use of. Beforehand, potential workers of the company couldn’t have used hashish throughout the previous three years.
The Division of Transportation additionally took a special method to its hashish coverage in 2020, stating in a discover that it might not be testing drivers for CBD.
And whereas the Biden administration has instituted a coverage of granting waivers to sure employees who admit to prior hashish use, it’s come below hearth from advocates following stories that it fired or in any other case punished dozens of staffers who have been trustworthy about their historical past with marijuana.
White Home Press Secretary Jen Psaki has beforehand tried to attenuate the fallout, with out a lot success, and her workplace launched a press release final yr stipulating that no person was fired for “marijuana utilization from years in the past,” nor has anybody been terminated “resulting from informal or rare use through the prior 12 months.”
A strong congressional committee launched a report final yr that urges federal companies to rethink insurance policies that end result within the firing of workers who use marijuana legally in accordance with state legislation.
Army branches typically have been notably constant of their insurance policies—prohibiting service members from utilizing any type of hashish, together with hemp-based merchandise which were federally legalized.
On Wednesday, for instance, members of the Navy have been particularly informed to not drink a brand new Rockstar power drink from Pepsi that comprises hemp seed oil.
That advisory from the Naval Warfare School is a follow-up on an preliminary Navy-wide discover in 2018 that knowledgeable ranks that they’re barred from utilizing CBD and hemp merchandise irrespective of their legality. Then in 2020 it launched an replace explaining why it enacted the rule change.
In 2019, the Division of Protection (DOD) introduced a coverage barring all energetic and reserve service members from utilizing hemp merchandise, together with CBD. DOD extra broadly reaffirmed that CBD is off limits to service members in earlier notices printed in 2020.
About one yr after hemp was federally legalized, the Air Pressure despatched out a discover that equally warned towards utilizing CBD merchandise which might be generally discovered available on the market.
A Massachusetts base of the U.S. Air Pressure informed pilots final yr that they may face disciplinary motion for possessing any kind of hemp product, even when it’s “in your pet.”
Officers with the navy department additionally stated the earlier yr that it needs its members to be further cautious around “grandma’s miracle sticky buns” that may comprise marijuana.
The Coast Guard stated that sailors can’t use marijuana or go to state-legal dispensaries.
And NASA, which isn’t a part of the navy, warned that CBD merchandise might comprise unauthorized THC concentrations that might price workers their jobs in the event that they fail a drug take a look at.
SAMHSA, which is likely one of the companies behind the brand new proposed drug testing notices, might have influenced these prior coverage updates. It launched steering to federal company drug program coordinators in 2019 that outlined issues about THC turning up in CBD merchandise and inflicting failed drug assessments. The company issued an up to date warning in 2020 after a number of extra states voted to legalize marijuana.
Photograph courtesy of Martin Alonso.