Until recently, the FBI’s website had stated that potential candidates cannot have used marijuana “within the three years preceding the date of their application for employment, regardless of the location of use (even if marijuana usage is legal in the candidate’s home state)”.
Now people who are seeking to join the FBI are still disqualified if they have used cannabis within the past 12 months, but usage going further back will be overlooked.
In addition, the updated online information has been updated to specifically state that use of cannabis before the age of 18 is not a disqualifier for FBI employment. Instead a “whole-person concept,” will be used in deciding who to employ, the website says.
The FBI policy change, may be due to the nature of the work, according to High Times. It reports that back in 2014, FBI Director James Comey was quoted as saying: “I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.”
It may also reflect that the Biden administration has also started granting some waivers for workers who admit to prior cannabis use.
That said, FBI policy remains that people who have used illegal drugs, or misused or abused legal drugs cannot apply to the FBI for 10 years, and must not misrepresent their drug use.
Meanwhile the Department of Defense, Air Force and the Navy have ruled that every hemp and cannabis product is off limits, even those that are just applied to the skin, such as soaps and shampoos.This is due to concerns that CBD oils, though legal, may be contaminated with traces of the psychoactive component THC.
Source: High Times