The most popular drugs in America are caffeine, alcohol, and cannabis, in that order.
Caffeine, a psychoactive drug that stimulates the central nervous system, is the most widely used drug in the world. In the U.S., about 90% of adults (and many minors) regularly drink caffeinated beverages, often several times a day.
Alcohol is widely used by adults, of course, but the amount of usage varies a great deal. According to a 2023 Survey on Drug Use and Health, 132 million adults ages 18 and older reported that they drank alcohol in the previous month. That’s about 50% of the adult population.
Fewer Americans — about 52 million, or 20% of the adult population — claim to have used cannabis in the previous year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet, its daily or near-daily usage (DND) has now surpassed that of alcohol. A study published last year in Addiction, a peer-reviewed journal, found that cannabis, and more specifically marijuana, which refers to parts or products from the plant that contain substantial amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is used by about 17.7 million people every day or nearly every day, while alcohol is imbibed at a similar rate by only 14.7 million. So, while there are more beer-and-booze people than bud-and-bong people in the U.S., about 35% of American cannabis users have a DND habit. For alcohol, less than 10% drink daily. This makes smoking weed more like smoking cigarettes than drinking.
The daily or near-daily use of cannabis now outpaces alcohol use. Source: Wiley Online Library / Jonathan Caulkins
That this is happening is no surprise, given the rapid rise of cannabis legalization and decriminalization by numerous states. A product that was underground for decades began to emerge publicly when medical use began in the 1990s followed by recreational legalization in Colorado and Washington in 2012. Since then, a cascade of states have opened the doors to retail operations selling smokable, drinkable, and edible products with a varying amount of THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis that produces the intoxication and mind-altering effects. Since legalization began, legal products have become much more potent. There is no federal recognition of state-legal cannabis and, thus, no regulation through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Each state makes its own rules. At the moment, 23 states have full-blown pot shops, and about half of all Americans reside in states with legal marijuana. Only six states have yet to change their laws to at least allow some forms of medical marijuana.
While personal usage of cannabis is increasingly common, the policing of its use has become much more difficult. The problem is testing. At this time, the only accepted method of testing for THC that satisfies U.S. Department of Transportation and Coast Guard requirements is urine testing. There are other methods of testing for hair, saliva and blood, but urine testing is universal for transportation industries in the U.S.
However, there are problems with urine testing. First, it’s challenging to collect. The donor usually must be provided some privacy. Second, urine can be adulterated or swapped out. The DOT has a series of videos that show how to oversee and secure urine sample collection. (“Check inside any toilet-paper dispensers for hidden samples or adulterants, and then tape shut the outside.”) For many employers, drug testing is provided by an outside contractor.
Maritime operators under the supervision of the Coast Guard must do both pre-employment and random drug testing for all licensed employees. Each month, 50% of the affected workforce is subject to random selection to be tested. Shutterstock.
Third, urine testing is not reliable for detecting real-time impairment. In fact, THC lingers in the body for up to 30 days past ingestion. Because of this long lag time, pre-employment drug testing may only reveal that an applicant smoked weed two or three weeks before the test. Recognizing this fact, state legislatures (e.g. Washington) and other governing bodies, like cities (e.g. Philadelphia) have made pre-employment cannabis testing unusable for hiring if the product is legal in that location, medically or recreationally.
Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, regular testing is mandated for employees under the auspices of the DOT or Coast Guard, regardless of the state, and the policy is zero tolerance. For those who test positive, the consequences can be serious: removal from safety-sensitive duties, termination of employment, and/or revocation of merchant mariner credentials. Violators can appeal, but according to the Coast Guard, “mariners are still required to complete rehabilitation and show a year or more of negative drug tests before returning to service.”
Maritime operators under the supervision of the Coast Guard must do both pre-employment and random drug testing for all licensed employees. Each month, 50% of the affected workforce is subject to random selection to be tested. The same employee can be tested more than once because selected names are put back on the list. “We have a guy who got tested for about four months in a row,” said Capt. Alan Bernstein, owner of BB Riverboats, Newport, Ky. “He was wondering what they thought he had done, but it was just random.”
The boatbuilding business isn’t specifically covered by DOT drug-testing policy, but because many of its jobs are safety-sensitive and because many yards have federal government contracts, shipyard employers usually do pre-employment drug tests. However, doing so can severely limit hiring because many candidates don’t pass the urine test. Statistics for this aren’t collected, but industry sources say the percentage of failure has been high in some areas, even in states where marijuana isn’t legal.
Once hired, though, shipyard workers are not necessarily subject to random drug testing, and employers may not be eager to check unless for cause. “If there’s an incident or an accident, or there’s a strong reason to believe that somebody’s under the influence, then we test them,” said a Seattle-area shipyard manager. When asked if he thinks any of the workers smoke pot from time to time, he responded, “Absolutely.” But he doesn’t want to risk losing good workers based on what they do during their time off. However, “If it’s a real safety concern, like dropping a crane load, that’s where there’s a hard line.”
In an emailed statement, another Washington-state boatbuilder, All American Marine, Bellingham, said it is committed to a drug-free workplace “that balances our respect for individuals with the need to maintain an alcohol and drug-free environment.” The company also “has no intention of interfering with the private lives of its employees unless involvement with alcohol and other drugs off the job affects job performance.” The policy applies to everyone, including management.
Given the widely scattered legal landscape and the pervasive use of cannabis products, employers are increasingly frustrated by the status quo. The need for better testing is paramount. In a recent article in Forbes magazine reviewing cannabis legalization, Alonzo Martinez, senior contributor, concluded that “revisions to drug-testing panels are essential to align with state requirements and accommodate lawful marijuana use.”
Bernstein agrees. “I hear that new tests are being developed that will give much better information, and that’s what everybody is waiting for,” he said.
Suhash Harwani, senior science director at testing company Quest Diagnostics, wrote in an email that there are “emerging test methods to detect more recent use of marijuana,” but current testing can’t determine impairment. “Scientists and advocates are continuously discussing the ability to define what ‘impairment’ means related to marijuana use…There is currently no unified standard available to detect impairment for marijuana, including in blood.”
He said that his company is seeing more interest in saliva testing for marijuana and other drugs. Quest Diagnostics does offer “oral fluid” tests, which can detect recent use of marijuana and other drugs, but so far, urine testing is the only acceptable method on the federal level.
For professional mariners, the Coast Guard gets the final word: “Unless and until the drug testing system changes, the best decision a mariner can make is to avoid using marijuana or any products derived from marijuana that may contain THC, such as [cannabidiol (CBD)] oil. The threat to maritime transportation and risk of career disaster are both too great to take the chance.”
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