Could the trucking industry, long-plagued with high driver turnover and a need for new driver entrants, be missing out on a swath of potential drivers due to its strict no-marijuana-use policies?

It’s an idea open to debate, says attorney Adam Dolan, chair of the cannabis law group for the firm Goldberg Segalla, where he’s also a partner of the trucking and automotive group.

“There’s a societal shift in the way we view cannabis use,” says Dolan, particularly around the use of marijuana for medical purposes. And it’s an issue he contends the trucking industry will likely need to confront in light of the perceived shortage of available truck drivers and, increasingly, as state marijuana laws change.

“By saying no person can use marijuana, even if they have a medical recommendation for it, you’re cutting yourself off from such a large pool of applicants that could provide the industry with much-needed manpower,” Dolan says. Fleets, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, need to “accept the fact that this issue is not going away,” he says. “You’re going to start running into problems.”