Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana DUI Law Is A Scientific And Legal Disaster
Topic 34812 | Page 1
Worse still, this law puts professional drivers, including CDL holders, in an impossible situation. Use your medication legally and risk your license? Or suffer without treatment?
I think you’re missing something here.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Ah yeah. CDL holders can't have any THC in their systems at all, whatsoever. Its a federal issue. Irrelevant of what state says about it medically or not.
Your feelings on it, your medical input on it are totally irrelevant. The FMCSA , the governing body for rules and policies, is very clear on drug policy. If you have an issue with it, take it up with them.
On a personal bias level, we have enough drivers that are idiots without drugs, the last thing I want is a stoned idiot operating a CMV.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
CSA:
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)
The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle
FMCSA:
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
The FMCSA was established within the Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000. Their primary mission is to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries.
What Does The FMCSA Do?
- Commercial Drivers' Licenses
- Data and Analysis
- Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement
- Research and Technology
- Safety Assistance
- Support and Information Sharing
CMV:
Commercial Motor Vehicle
A CMV is a vehicle that is used as part of a business, is involved in interstate commerce, and may fit any of these descriptions:
- Weighs 10,001 pounds or more
- Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more
- Is designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver) not for compensation
- Is designed or used to transport 9 or more passengers (including the driver) for compensation
- Is transporting hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placards
Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
I don't want potheads driving killing machines. And if they need pot to do the job .. they probably shouldnt be doing it.
No sympathy here
Doc I do believe you have missed the point of this website. This is not a typical social media site. We try our best to educate folks looking to get into the trucking industry and give them honest information, which includes telling people if they are worried about a drug test then they aren’t going to last in this industry.
I’m sure you are passionate about your cause. However the federal rules prohibit cdl holders from having any thc in their system period. Folks that are in need of your services should not be driving trucks.
Your arguments are best suited toward gov’t officals to enact changes, as I’m sure you already are aware.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
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As a physician and medical marijuana certifier, I feel obligated to speak out: Pennsylvania’s DUI laws for medical marijuana users are not just outdated—they're scientifically indefensible and morally wrong.
Under current PA law, a medical marijuana patient can be charged with DUI simply for having inactive THC metabolites in their system—even days or weeks after last using—with no evidence of impairment. That means you can be completely sober, pass every field sobriety test, and still get hit with a criminal charge. Why? Because the law doesn’t distinguish between impairment and presence.
This is not how science works, and it’s not how justice should work either.
THC metabolites like carboxy-THC are not psychoactive. They’re just leftovers—chemical footprints showing you used cannabis at some point in the past. They have zero correlation with impairment, especially in regular medical users. PA’s law treats medical patients like criminals for following their doctor’s orders.
Imagine applying this same logic to prescription opioids or benzos. We’d have half the state in jail.
Worse still, this law puts professional drivers, including CDL holders, in an impossible situation. Use your medication legally and risk your license? Or suffer without treatment?
It’s time for to demand change. PA’s marijuana DUI statute isn’t protecting the public. It’s punishing the sick, ignoring science, and turning law-abiding patients into felons.
I urge PA truckers to call their lawmakers and for law enforcement to follow the actual evidence—and for anyone affected by this broken system to speak out.
— Dr. Michael Duplessie Medical Marijuana Physician https://michaelduplessie.com
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
DUI:
Driving Under the Influence
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated