Uncle Sam is not impressed with legal marijuana states...

[nolatom]

And hence the Coast Guard has reminded (licensed) mariners that nothing has changed. You still have to take the drug tests, and MJ is still very much a no-no:

http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/announcements/pdfs/marijuana-policy_1-14-14.p


though the President himself seems a little, ah, more ambivalent about pot usage generally??:

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/v...-tapper-obama-marijuana-legalization.cnn.html

But he's talking criminal penalties and unequal enforcement. Don't expect the Coast Guard to be quite that philosophical, they view it as a public safety issue and are not inclined to budge on medical issues (including drugs/pharmaceuticals that may be legally dispensed) after the criticism they took coming out of the Cosco Busan and Staten Island ferry allisions.

 

[oldsalt]

The Coast Guard certainly doesn't tolerate alcohol use while operating vessels, I would be dismayed if they had a more tolerant attitude for other drugs. Here in Washington State one ferry, the Elwha, grounded under two different captains. One grounding was attributed to alcohol abuse and the other to marijuana.

 

[Tortuga James]

Operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs is always going to be zero tolerance as it should be. But you can have a cocktail with friends on Saturday night and be clear of BAC by Sunday morning. Can't do that with marijuana. You might not be high on Sunday but you will fail the pee test.

If it were to be legal in all 50 states and that was unopposed by the Federal government, then what are they going to do? It wouldn't seem fair for you to lose your ticket for doing something legal last week that had no bearing on your ability to operate the vessel safely this week. Seems like they would have to come up with another indicator for "under the influence" of marijuana just like "blood alcohol content".

I could care less, I am just pondering the question. But I would be pissed if they said I couldn't have a beer with friends "ever". You see the analogy I am making.

 

[rjack321]

Washington State had to define "impaired" when they legalized pot. The limit is ridiculously low however. I think you'd be impaired for about 2 days based on their blood THC thresholds. There were some specials on TV where the news channel took existing pot users, had them take a driving test with a state trooper along, smoke, repeat with blood tests in between. IIRC they all passed the driving test at several times the legal THC limit. Later, several joints in when they were actually impaired, they had no clue they were impaired as you might expect.