Only consortium letters with this exact phrase will be accepted by the USCG for your USCG license: APPLICANT’S NAME / SSN has been subject to a random testing program meeting the criteria of Title 46 CFR 16.230 for at least 60 days during the previous 185 days and has not failed nor refused to participate in a chemical test for dangerous drugs.
No other documentation from your maritime drug testing consortium will be accepted by the USCG for any part of your USCG license application.
If you have any other type of documentation from your consortium that will work for other parts of your charter business and compliance but it will not be accepted by the USCG for any part of your USCG license application.
Contact your maritime drug testing consortium
Every maritime drug testing consortium is very used to creating this drug test letter for USCG license applications.
All you need to do is reach out to them and ask for:
"a drug testing letter for my USCG License application."
When you get it emailed back to you double check it has the following three things:
- The letter is on consortium letterhead.
- The letter is signed by a consortium representative.
- The letter from the consortium that says verbatim:APPLICANT’S NAME / SSN has been subject to a random testing program meeting the criteria of Title 46 CFR 16.230 for at least 60 days during the previous 185 days and has not failed nor refused to participate in a chemical test for dangerous drugs.
If it does meet all three of these conditions it will not be accepted by the USCG.
You are meeting Option Two of USCG Drug Testing Guidance
Option Two: Provide a letter on marine employer stationary or on command letterhead attesting to participation in random drug testing program. You must include the exact text from the Overview of Drug Test Requirements Option Two on the USCG website (https://www.dco.uscg.mil/nmc/drug_testing/) in your letter.
Drug testing letters from a Union will not be accepted by the NMC.
We hope this made your life a little easier and if you have other questions the MM-SEAS team is always here to help!
MM-SEAS is free to use on your own and if you need some more personalized help you can upgrade to MM-SEAS Expert Access inside of the site.
No matter what, when you are ready to submit your application you can do it yourself, or you can hand the whole thing to us. An MM-SEAS Navita Navigator walks you through submitting in Navita, the Coast Guard's new submission portal, on a short video call. No computer, or not up for a video call? Our team gets your application submitted to the Coast Guard for you anyway. A Stress-Free MMC is $399. Two MM-SEAS licensing experts check every page, we pay your Coast Guard fees at submission and charge your card so you never touch pay.gov, and we stay on it with the National Maritime Center until your credential is issued.
MM-SEAS Expert Access is $99 a year. It is your personal guidance counselor for USCG licensing: what training you need next, which sea time counts, and how to reach the credential you want, by phone, email, chat or a 1 on 1 video call. Expert Access members also get $50 off a Stress-Free MMC.
Need to renew, upgrade or get your first USCG license? We're here to help.
About the author
Nate Gilman is President and Co-Founder of MM-SEAS. He hawsepiped from the deck to a 3rd Mate Unlimited license with full STCW compliance over more than 15 years at sea, and is a veteran of the NOAA Commissioned Corps. He works directly with the National Maritime Center, USCG-approved training schools, and vessel operators on credentialing policy, and writes on sea service documentation, evaluation standards, and how mariners move up the license ladder.
