Routine inspections are cracking down on medical cards! Be sure to keep yours handy at all times and don't be surprised if roadside enforcement calls your Doctor to make sure its legit! A new enforcement initiative was launched by the FMCSA involving medical certification. Roadside enforcement began conduction random verifications of medical examiner certificates in mid-November 2012, during routine enforcement activities in efforts to minimize the fraudulent use of medical certificates.

DOT will likely be adding benzodiazapenes to the required DOT drug-testing list in early 2013. "Benzos" (Xanax, Paxal, etc) are drugs typically prescribed for anxiety, and abuse and prescription sharing has long been a problem across all industries. If you have a medical prescription for it and drive, be sure to only take the prescribed dosage and follow all directions. Testing and levels will be closely scrutinized.

Synthetic drug testing is also being considered as a DOT requirement. Synthetic drugs (Face Weed, Spice, Bath Salts, Smiles, etc) has become a nationwide epidemic and no age or profession is immune. The President put a Federal Ban on 32 of the compounds that can be found in Synthetic Drugs in July 2012 which made them illegal and DOT is strongly considering adding these compounds to the required Drug Testing list. For more information about Synthetic Drugs please go to STAT Alert.