The FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, operational since January 2020, is a federal database of every drug or alcohol violation by every CDL holder in the United States. Carriers must query the Clearinghouse before hiring a driver and annually for every CDL holder on their roster.
What gets reported
Positive drug-test results; alcohol tests with BAC of 0.04 or higher; refusal to test (failure to appear, dilute or adulterated samples, walking out, etc.); actual knowledge of drug use or alcohol misuse on duty; SAP evaluations and return-to-duty test results.
Driver registration
Every CDL holder must register at clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov. Once registered, you can review your own record (free), grant or deny consent to carrier queries, and contest any reported violations. You'll receive email notifications whenever a carrier or Medical Review Officer makes a query against your record.
Carrier queries
Pre-employment queries: carriers must request a "full query" before hiring you. The full query requires your electronic consent. If you refuse consent, the carrier cannot hire you for safety-sensitive work. Annual queries: carriers must run a "limited query" annually for every driver on their roster — this requires general consent (typically signed at hire) but not specific per-query consent.
If you have a violation
A reported violation places you in "prohibited" status. To return to safety-sensitive duty, you must: complete a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) evaluation; complete the SAP-prescribed education or treatment; pass a return-to-duty drug or alcohol test; complete follow-up testing as prescribed by the SAP (typically 6 unannounced tests in the first 12 months, with up to 5 years of additional follow-up).
Cost and timeline
SAP evaluation: $200 to $500. SAP-prescribed treatment: highly variable, typically $300 to $2,000. Return-to-duty test: $50 to $100. Total realistic cost: $700 to $2,500. Total realistic timeline: 60 to 180 days from violation to return-to-duty clearance.
Once cleared
Once you complete the return-to-duty process, your status changes to "not prohibited." The violation remains on your Clearinghouse record for 5 years (or until the SAP follow-up testing program is complete, whichever is later). Many carriers will still not hire you with a recent reported violation — even after clearing — for the duration that the violation appears in the Clearinghouse.