25% eventually. If they decide to test for Alcohol usage, another 13%.
There’s gonna be a Lot of opportunity in the maritime industry…
Anything official on this?
Yes, it’s officially a bunch of spun up nonsense. Have a beer and chill out
US flag?
Yes
This is certainly an interesting development. It seems there is legislation under review regarding DOT hair follicle testing particularly for truck drivers dating back to 2015 in response to the opioid crisis. If approved by the regulatory agencies involved DOT, DHHS, and OBM this could apply to mariners as well going into effect 2020, however the legal status and questionable accuracy of hair tests has stalled the bill for further review.
Having some personal experience with hair testing, I find it problematic for a couple of reasons. It is more invasive than you might first think. A minimum 1.5” sample the diameter of a pencil must be cut close to the scalp and yes that’s going to leave an awkward bald spot in your nice hair. If you are bald, they are going to take samples from your armpits, chest, groin or legs. Do you really want some random collector plucking at your hair? Additionally, hair tests do not detect impairment whatsoever. The minimum time drugs can be detected is 7-10 days, the time needed for hair to grow out from the scalp. I wonder if they are considering using both urine and hair tests in a combination program. The double whammy. Hair testing is about five times more expensive than urine testing so there’s that to consider as well.
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Is this obsessive level of testing being promoted by the drug testing lobby? Without some standard equivalent to probable cause, is this level of intrusion even constitutional?
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I’ll just lob this into the room, slightly off topic but relatively hot off the presses.
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“If you don’t have anything to hide then shut the fuck up and take it or else”
-The Coast Guard (who doesn’t hold their own people to the same standard)
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Incorrect. The USCG allows .04 and 4 hours. An employer can decrease this up to and including 0.0 aboard the vessel. However, at those levels they are not required to report it to the USCG.
So, if you have a dick in the food chain and you go have a couple of beers while off and inport, this person can test you when you come aboard and if you pop positive, send you away.
Even when running as Master now, if the company has a zero tolerance policy, I stop drinking 72 hours before going to work and NEVER while at work.
Something similar to this happened to me in a 2 captain outfit (dick in the food chain). The other captain liked to drink and usually turned down overtime so I picked up most of it. After a while, it became automatic for dispatch to offer me the OT first and I never turned it down. The other captain started complaining to management that I was hogging the OT.
He found a supervisor with a sympathetic ear, a fellow good ol’ boy, who peppered me with notices to take drug tests. IIRC, you had to report within 48 hours. I wasn’t doing drugs and it didn’t bother me much since I was getting paid to go to the quest lab. I figured he’d lay off eventually.
One day, as I was tidying up my desk and within a few minutes of leaving for a week’s vacation, this good ol’ boy walks in and hands me the usual notice instructing me to report for a drug test. I left it on my desk. When I came back to work a week later, I reported the incident to the union steward. I never received another notice to get drug tested again.
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Once was doing a relief job in the bayou. Caught a ride with the captain on the way to the dock. We got to the dock and some guy from the office was there to welcome us and tell us there was a medic onboard testing everyone for drugs. He asked the captain, “Hey bro, when’s the last time you did any drugs?” Captain said,“I ain’t got my watch on, what time you got?” Office person told him to go home as he looked sick.
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That may be but somehow every US operator I’ve ever heard of has a Zero Tolerance policy so someone is requiring that. Maybe the insurance companies?
If you have to get high, then just do the drugs that they don’t test for. This is like drug abuse 101 here.
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Is this also for non-US seafarers arriving at US ports?
Weed is legal in Canada, Uruguay, Georgia (the country not state) and also many parts of the US, what if someone goes on holiday and consumes some where it’s legal?
Winner, winner! Chicken dinner!
Well, then they loose their license and jobs if tested.
Had a hair follicle treatment, I must say that it is quite an unpleasant procedure. I hope to never have to do it again.