Just Watched A Driver Beside Me At A Truck Stop Roll A Joint

He probably has a bulk bag of tobacco at home and the baggie is just his weekly amount. I wouldn’t think he’d roll more than one joint. He probably figures he’ll smoke two cigarettes on the way to where he’s going.

As far as the post about Hemp. If you want to believe that the amount of THC is negligible, then by all means smoke it and let me know how tour next random goes. I don’t know much about the stuff. Even a hint of ****ing dirty is a red light for me.

Keep it clean drivers

If it is tobacco, it was bright green. And there was a few hours in between. The last one appeared to be one for the road.

I am curious to know how many CDL holders partake in illegal substances and/or alcohol either while driving or during a 10 hour break. I have an acquaintance who works on a drug task force and his only interaction with truck drivers involves drug dealers selling to truckers at truck stops. I've mentioned the zero drug tolerance perspective that I've learned on this forum to him, but from his perspective that doesn't seem to limit the number of truck drivers buying drugs.

People gonna do - what people gonna do.

Have an old old friend that I met via his trucker blog - who would wax melancholy about polishing off a 1/2 a case on his 10 hours. He was down here on a drop/turnaround (company driver) and I grabbed him from the truck stop. We went to dinner (where he had 2 or 3 Jacks), over to my house so he could do some laundry. We shot some pool, he polished off a 6-er, and I dropped him back at his rig around midnight, where he was back on Line 3 at around 6AM. Now - was he over a .04 (not counting different metabolisms), probably not. He was more likely over .02 - and probably "legally impaired".

I know many "high functioning" alcoholics/addicts (myself as one of them) that can pull off difficult techical tasks while wasted to a level where "lesser men" (and women) would be sucking their shoelaces or peeking out the blinds.

Doesn't make it right - and, in the case of trucking - DOESN'T MAKE IT LEGAL.

There are "opinions" (which are akin to anal oficices), and then THERE'S THE LAW.

While this is not the "good (bad) old days", with truckers snorting up "Black Beauties", like Tony Montana doing lines. There are still users and abusers out there.

But to steal a quote from Fight Club: “On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.”

I got busted doing a "bad thing" in '89. I took it in stride, as the price I had to pay for the THOUSANDS OF TIMES I DIDN'T GET CAUGHT. Same with speeding tickets. Didn't make it RIGHT - but I took it as "the cost of doing business" (or driving the way I like to drive).

As far as trucking goes - NO ONE CAN PLEAD "IGNORANCE OF THE LAW" if/WHEN they get caught. And it's a LONG BUS RIGHT HOME when you do. And the odds of operating a CMV again (for a legit company) are slim to impossible. People that come back from a SAP , are usually people with years of trouble free driving under their belts. Newbies, not so much.

Rick

I would have called the police immediately.

Did you, Grumpy?

I would have called the police immediately.

Did you, Grumpy?

Dunno about the coppers - definitely his company. Unless he was an Independent O/O - then, possibly the coppers.

Though - if he was in a weed-legal state, a local-yokel may not know how to deal with a CMV driver in simple possession. In which case a call to the State Troopers.

Rick

PackRat...there are no words. You asked the right question.

I would have called the police immediately.

Did you, Grumpy?

Blowing the whistle on a fellow driver... A taboo subject?

Google FMCSA law on possession. Know the law. Know your company’s Code of Conduct when witnessing something potentially illegal like this. Weigh your conscience.

Fact. We do not really know what the driver was rolling. Tobacco or something else...

Please! Err on the side of caution, call the State Police (spot-on Rick). Let them figure out if a crime was committed. If he was indeed rolling a couple of Jays...he does not belong on the road operating and 80,000lb projectile. If he wasn’t, no harm,... no foul.

Lessons learned come in many shapes and forms out here. Not always easy to accept or initially understand them. IMO this is an example of one that to some might be less obvious, but to others; blatantly obvious.

... I for one would not, could not deal with a lifetime of doubt if this driver took-out a minivan with Mommy and Kiddies after I chose the easier path of apathy.

I'll blow the whistle, snitch, throw a penalty flag, etc. IN A HEARTBEAT for dirtbags like that.

Spouse beating, drugs, alcohol, texting while driving, abusing an animal, driving recklessly or aggressively, and human trafficking are a guaranteed call to 9-1-1 from me.

These are the drivers that get the insurance rates sky high (2005 Coronado parked at home for high insurance premiums to prove it), and give all of us a bad name.

If you don't report it, you condone it in my book. Period.

PackRat stated...

If you don't report it, you condone it in my book. Period.

We borrow from the same library...

Agreed.

PackRat stated...

If you don't report it, you condone it in my book. Period.

We borrow from the same library...

Agreed.

I don't know? You're an Eagles fan!

I would have called the police immediately.

Did you, Grumpy?

Dunno about the coppers - definitely his company. Unless he was an Independent O/O - then, possibly the coppers.

Though - if he was in a weed-legal state, a local-yokel may not know how to deal with a CMV driver in simple possession. In which case a call to the State Troopers.

Rick

Not a weed legal state. NY

As I had no way of knowing what direction he took, calling the cops wasn’t really an option.

I emailed his company, told them I have pictures. Waiting to see if they respond

PackRat...there are no words. You asked the right question.

Fact. We do not really know what the driver was rolling. Tobacco or something else...

... I for one would not, could not deal with a lifetime of doubt if this driver took-out a minivan with Mommy and Kiddies after I chose the easier path of apathy.

As I said, I’m fairly certain it was weed. In my past, I’ve rolled many of my own. Now, I’m as clean as I was in the 4th grade (I got drunk in the 5th).

And I felt bad about reporting him, but the last paragraph is exactly why I did.