Flight attendants are being warned to steer clear of popular CBD products, even if they contain very low levels of THC, because consuming these products could result in a positive drug test which would lead to their termination.
The popularity of CBD products has seen a meteoritic rise in the last few years after the substance was federally decriminalized in 2018 with the Farm Bill that allowed producers to sell hemp-derived cannabinoids containing up to 0.3% THC.
Within two years, CBD sales in the United States had hit $4.6 billion and last year, the industry was valued at $6.4 billion. At the current rate of growth, the CBD industry is estimated to be worth as much as $22 billion within the next seven years.
CBD or cannabidiol is found in an ever-increasing number of products, and the industry has moved on from just offering CBD in traditional formats like oils, capsules or gummies. Nowadays, you’ll find CBD in beverages and a whole host of beauty products.
The appeal of CBD is that it’s non-psychoactive, which means it doesn’t cause a ‘high’ like smoking marijuana or eating an edible might cause. But CBD has been shown to have a number of potential health benefits, including reducing anxiety and depression, relieving pain, and improving sleep.
Unfortunately, perfectly legal CBD products might not be suited for flight attendants, according to the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).
In a recent memo to flight attendants at United Airlines, the union warned that a positive drug test resulting from using CBD products would still be considered a violation of federal rules that prohibit crew members from consuming marijuana.
The problem is that the drug tests look for the presence of THC found in marijuana – the same component that is found in very small quantities in some CBD products.
“Despite the legal availability of many CBD products, the presence of THC, regardless of its source, will render a test positive,” the union warned thousands of flight attendants on Tuesday. “Given the current unregulated nature of CBD oil production, claims suggesting that specific products won’t result in a positive test could be misleading,” the memo continued.
So how much CBD would someone need to consume to accidentally trigger a positive drug test? Well, that’s where the problem lies because the union warns that there just isn’t enough research to “definitively state how much or how often one can consume a low THC concentration CBD product without testing positive.”
That’s not to say that flight attendants can’t use CBD products, but should they test positive for a drug test, they won’t be able to use CBD as a ‘get out a jail free’ card. Flight attendants have been warned.
In 2019, Canada issued specific rules banning flight attendants and other safety-critical aviation workers from consuming Cannabis after use of the drug was legalized across the country.
