As more states in the United States legalize the use of marijuana for recreational and/or medicinal use, the number of employers relaxing drug testing rules continues to increase. The federal government, which is the biggest employer in the country, has now followed suit, relaxing drug screening rules as agencies struggle to meet their labor needs in the tight job market.
Polls show that over one-half of Americans have used cannabis medicinally or recreationally, with majority reporting that they believe the drug should be legalized. Currently, the recreational use of cannabis is legal in 22 states as well as Washington, D.C., while the drug’s medicinal use is legal in the District of Columbia and 38 other states.
Officials have acknowledged that agencies such as the FBI and CIA have taken on more lenient regulations regarding past use of cannabis among job applicants. For example, the CIA announced in April of last year that applicants would need to avoid using cannabis for only 90 days before submitting an application, a huge change from the previous one-year eligibility requirement. The FBI also decreased its cannabis abstention requirement for individuals seeking employment from three years to one year.
In the last five years, the United States military has also given more than 3,000 new recruits a grace period of 90 days to take another test after they failed their entry drug tests. The Navy also launched a pilot program in 2021 that permits recruits to take another drug test 90 days after they failed entry drug tests.
Later in the year, the Biden administration will have the chance to impose limits on how far the government can dredge into the drug histories of individuals who apply for security clearance. Currently, individuals applying for a security clearance must reveal a detailed account of their use of illicit drugs during the last seven years. Background checks conducted before clearance can be investigated if an applicant has been truthful about their use of drugs.
The measure, which was introduced by Representative Jamie Raskin would make the use of cannabis irrelevant in reviews for security clearance, which are needed by most federal jobs. Under the proposed measure, the federal government would limit that time frame to five years for drugs other than cannabis, with applicants being required to disclose cannabis use only during the ninety days before they applied for the job.
Overall, federal employees are barred from using drugs such as cannabis once they receive clearance, even in legal-states, because the drug is still illegal under federal law.
As the drug-screening requirements ease, more people may consider using marijuana for therapeutic or recreational purposes. This increase in the number of users could boost marijuana demand, and that increased demand is likely to have a trickle-down effect on many industries in the economy, such as increasing the demand for indoor cultivation equipment from businesses such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX).
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
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