DOT Proposes Adding Four Prescription Drugs to List

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would add to its drug and alcohol testing regulations, including the addition of four Schedule II prescription drugs to be tested for.

DOT also clarified that urine specimens are the only currently acceptable method of drug testing for “safety sensitive” transportation workers such as CMV drivers.

The added drugs are the prescription medications Hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone and oxymorphone. The regulations would also add a clarification that a “prescription” means a “valid prescription under the Controlled Substances Act.”

The purpose of the rulemaking is to revise the Code of Federal Regulations to harmonize with the revised Department of Health and Human Services Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs using urine. DOT currently requires urine testing for safety sensitive transportation industry employees.

The proposed rulemaking follows a petition by six major carriers requesting that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration grant them an exemption to allow them to use hair testing exclusively as a means of pre-employment drug and alcohol testing.

Comments on the proposed rulemaking should be submitted by March 24 at www.regulations.gov.

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