ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Jo McGuire is an advocate, policy advisor, speaker, and writer dedicated to safe and drug‑free workplaces, families, and communities. As Executive Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA), she oversees an international membership of professionals in the drug and alcohol testing industry, with a strong focus on safety‑sensitive employees, best practices for workplace drug testing, and high‑quality training programs.
Jo was appointed to the Colorado Governor’s Task Force to regulate Amendment 64 due to her expertise in workplace marijuana policy. She has represented her industry at the United Nations, the Latin‑American Safe and Drug‑Free Workplace Congress, and in Washington D.C. as a leading advocate for employer rights and public safety.
She holds a B.S. in Sociology and Cannabis Studies from Colorado State University–Pueblo, where she was named a distinguished alumni.
Jo joins us to explain a critical issue affecting public safety. If raw cannabis is reclassified as a Schedule III drug, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will lose the ability to test safety‑sensitive employees for marijuana use — including airline pilots, air traffic controllers, school bus drivers, truckers, and more.
Jo shares her journey from school safety into workplace drug testing, her role on Colorado’s Governor’s Task Force during Amendment 64, and her advocacy in Washington D.C. She explains why Schedule III classification undermines decades of progress in reducing workplace accidents, how high‑potency marijuana complicates impairment, and why recovery‑friendly workplaces must coexist with drug‑free policies.
Listeners will learn:
- Why DOT’s THC testing program is at risk
- How legalization trends reversed accident reductions
- Why “responsible use” isn’t the issue — impairment is
- How federal workers in safety‑sensitive roles could be left unprotected
- What citizens can do now to demand a safety carve‑out
Jo also provides specific language listeners can use to contact their representatives and senators to protect transportation safety nationwide.
Please send the text/email below to your lawmakers in DC. You can make it your own but this is the basic message.
Did you know that when marijuana becomes a Schedule III drug, the U.S. Department of Transportation cannot preserve its federally regulated marijuana-testing program through DOT authority alone if HHS is no longer authorized to include marijuana in its federal testing guidelines and certified laboratory system?
That gap must be closed before any final rescheduling rule takes effect for marijuana. The National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA) calls on each Senator and Representative to secure an explicit safety carve-out that preserves uninterrupted marijuana testing for every Federally-regulated safety-sensitive position.
The stakes are public, not merely administrative. Federal testing protects passengers, schoolchildren, workers, communities, infrastructure, and the traveling public from the consequences of drug-related impairment in aviation, commercial motor vehicles, rail, public transit, and pipeline and hazardous-materials operations. This includes air traffic controllers, pilots, truck drivers, school bus drivers, subway operators, railway engineers and many, MANY more that need to operate unimpaired by substances.
Why action is required now
The Federal drug testing program is legally bound to use only SAMHSA certified labs under the authority of HHS. HHS's current authorized federal workplace panels are expressly framed as panels of Schedule I and II drugs. HHS may not certify the labs to test for any drugs in Schedule III status. If marijuana is transferred to Schedule III and HHS consequently lacks authority to retain it on the federal panel, an HHS-certified laboratory could no longer perform a federally authorized marijuana test even though DOT continues to view marijuana as a safety risk. Without a carve-out, the current transportation safety system will be forced to remove marijuana from the Federal drug testing panel.
Please take action NOW to protect America’s traveling public!
For more information, contact jomcguire@ndasa.com
