By Steve Neavling
The FBI is taking a more tolerant approach to marijuana use among would-be agents.
Job applicants who have not consumed cannabis for at least one year are now qualified under employment restrictions that were loosened within the past month, Marijuana Moment reports.
Prospective agents were previously disqualified from the joining the bureau if they had used marijuana in the past three years.
“Candidates cannot have used marijuana or cannabis in any form (natural or synthetic) and in any location (domestic or foreign) within the one (1) year preceding the date of their application for employment,” FBI’s updated job site says. https://www.fbijobs.gov/working-at-FBI/eligibility
Under another change, marijuana use “before the candidate’s 18th birthday is not a disqualifier for FBI employment.” But the latest update adds, “adjudicative personnel will evaluate the candidate by using the ‘whole-person concept.”
While the FBI made no formal announcements of the loosened restrictions, the bureau mentioned drug use among job candidates in a tweeted posted by the bureau’s Chicago Field Office.
The more tolerant approach to marijuana use comes as many states legalize cannabis for recreational and medicinal use. While marijuana remains illegal on the federal level, Congress is considering decriminalizing it.
