Department of Defense expands list of drugs to be tested by military members. This includes psilocin – one of two components of psilocybin mushroom.
According to a DOD memo obtained by MEDCAN24 from an employee of DOD performing the duties for the deputy under secretary of Defense (personnel and readiness) advised the military leadership that psilocin is being added as a drug test panel in the Drug Demand Reduction Program of the Department effective October 1.
According to the August 18 memo, this change is being implemented due to the “risk of impairment or deterioration in security, fitness, readiness, order, and discipline.”
Merlynn C. Carson, MD wrote: “Drug use by Service Members is a serious safety issue. The Department needs to adapt its detection and deterrence programs in order to deal with new drug threats.”
A DOD official stated that the attached memo outlines “cutoff concentrations”, for example, for a positive test of psilocin or other drugs on the panel.
MEDCAN24 contacted DOD to get a comment on the attachments and copies, but they were unable to provide them immediately.
In the memo it is stated that “first priority will be given” to psilocin samples under the revised panel.
It says that “in proportion to the laboratory’s capabilities and capacities, second priority is given to requests for special testing for other modes of collection, such as regular inspection-based samples, and specimens can also be tested randomly for psilocin.”
DOD is also implementing a psychedelic treatment pilot program mandated by Congress for veterans and active-duty servicemen. Recent DOD funding bills require that a “progress” report be submitted on the initiative.
Two months ago, an DOD contractor had sued the government for violating his Fifth Amendment Right against Self-Incrimination by asking questions during a process of security clearance about marijuana usage in his past.
In recent years as marijuana has been legalized in more states, the question of federal employees testing positive for the drug has also increased.
A memo sent to Air Force personnel on bases in Massachusetts, in February warned them that hemp cannabinoids such as CBD and delta-8-THC, which are derived from hemp, were prohibited.
Military branches and the Department of Defense have warned military members that cannabis is prohibited. In 2022, for example, the Air Force expressed concern that even using CBD-infused hand sanitizer or hemp granola could inadvertently compromise “military readiness.”
One of the first attempts by the U.S. military to communicate its cannabis ban came in the form of a fake press conference in 2019, where officials took scripted questions that touched on hypotheticals like the eating cannabis-infused burritos and washing cats with CBD shampoos. That was staged around the time that DOD codified its rules around the non-intoxicating cannabinoid.
After its initial 2019 announcement, the department more broadly reaffirmed that CBD is off limits to service members in notices published in 2020.
About one year after hemp was federally legalized, the Air Force sent out a notice that similarly warned against using CBD products that are commonly found on the market. Air Force bases in Massachusetts told their pilots to expect disciplinary measures if they were found with any kind of hemp-based product.
Officials with the military branch also said the previous year that it wants its members to be extra careful around “grandma’s miracle sticky buns” that might contain marijuana.
The Navy, for its part, issued an initial notice in 2018 informing ranks that they’re barred from using CBD and hemp products no matter their legality. Then in 2020 it released an update explaining why it enacted the rule change.
The Coast Guard said that sailors can’t use marijuana or visit state-legal dispensaries.
A factor that may have influenced these policy updates is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2019 release of guidance to federal agency drug program coordinators that outlined concerns about THC turning up in CBD products and causing failed drug tests. The agency issued an updated warning in 2020 after several more states voted to legalize marijuana.
Separately, a general in 2022 said that the Air Force and Space Force were reviewing marijuana policies and considering a “common sense” change that could give potential recruits a pass if they test positive for cannabis.
Meanwhile, a recent policy paper from a pair of companies in the trucking industry, for example, said the sector was short about 80,000 drivers last year—an issue it asserted was exacerbated by workers testing positive for marijuana under the federal Department of Transportation’s (DOT) strict, zero-tolerance drug policy.
The U.S. Supreme Court in April ruled in favor of a trucker who sued a cannabis company after he was fired over a positive THC test that he said was caused by consuming a hemp-derived CBD product.
Separately, a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) official earlier this year downplayed criticism from the CEO of a drug-testing company that more widespread use of saliva-based drug testing “means truckers who use cannabis will be able to do so with near impunity, as long as they avoid a drug test for a couple of days.”
Below you can read the DOD Memo on Psilocin Drug Testing.
Image courtesy Wikimedia/Workman