As Maryland lawmakers continue to gather information to craft legislation on the legalization of cannabis, they learned more this week on how the drug can have an impact on a person’s job.

The House of Delegates’ Cannabis Referendum and Legalization work group held a briefing Tuesday to hear about ways to improve workplace safety in the era of legalized cannabis.

Jane Terry, vice president of government affairs for the National Safety Council, said various studies show vehicle crash rates increased after legalization of cannabis.

Terry said the council, headquartered in Itasca, Ill., doesn’t take a position on legalization. But she summarized some proposed legislation Maryland lawmakers could implement to decrease vehicle crashes and road fatalities before recreational use becomes legal in July. Some of them include:

• Improving oral fluid roadside testing to test for drivers possibly under the influence of cannabis.
• Better toxicology data and testing for vehicles involved in fatal crashes, especially for THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, a chemical compound in cannabis that produces “the high sensation.”
• Improving training for the entire legal system to understand cannabis.

“What we really want to drive home is that it is impairing when you use it and that it can have safety impacts,” Terry said.

One of the council’s regional affiliates, the Chesapeake Region Safety Council based in Baltimore County, works with “high-hazard” businesses such as construction companies. Dave...

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