J.D. Irving is raising concern over possible risks to workplace safety with the impending legalization of marijuana.
At the provincial cannabis committee’s stop in Saint John, J.D. Irving argued an increase in use of marijuana when it becomes legal also means it’s likely we’ll see a jump in the use of it when employees are coming in to work.
Chris MacDonald is director of government relations with JDI and he says in the U.S. all their pilots are randomly tested which has proven to be a deterrent — and yet still 10 pilots in 2015 still had positive random alcohol tests.
“It’s pretty scary from a workplace perspective,” says MacDonald. “We have many, many industries that we’re responsible for where there’s potential catastrophic effects if something were to happen.”
The J.D. Irving group of companies includes trucking, train, and towing companies, shipbuilding and industrial fabrication companies, among others. The company says the risks of marijuana includes slower reaction time, impairing depth perception and coordination.
They’ve made recommendations to the federal government including having a regulatory alcohol and drug testing framework implemented for employees.
“We believe this is an appropriate time to adopt a workplace alcohol and drug testing regulatory framework to ensure that safety is not comprimised by legalization of marijuana and the increased usage,” says MacDonald.
“We believe the framework should be aligned with the United States.”
The other items they have recommended is having a national cut-off limit for marijuana like there is with having a blood alcohol content at 0.08-percent and a road-side test for marijuana.
