{"id":4130,"date":"2021-06-09T04:20:35","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T11:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/?p=4130"},"modified":"2021-06-09T07:25:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T14:25:36","slug":"amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amazon, which employs about 1.3 million people in the United States, recently announced that it will no longer pre-screen potential employees for marijuana use. The Amazon marijuana policy statement also included an official endorsement for federal legalization of marijuana.<\/p>\n

The company is not exactly leading on this issue. Other companies have announced they will not pre-screen job applicants for marijuana, including the NFL (which also is researching the potential of marijuana for pain management<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Still, as one of the largest employers in the nation and around the world, the Amazon marijuana policy could have a big impact on other businesses, not just in drug screening policy but in support of marijuana legalization.<\/p>\n

Dave Clark, Amazon\u2019s CEO Worldwide Consumer, said in the statement: \u201cOur public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act)\u2014federal legislation that would legalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and invest in impacted communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that other employers will join us, and that policymakers will act swiftly to pass this law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes in the Amazon Drug-Test Policy<\/h2>\n

The announcement came in a blog post<\/a> with the headline: \u201cUpdate on our vision to be Earth\u2019s Best Employer and Earth\u2019s Safest Place to Work.\u201d That\u2019s a reference to outgoing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos\u2019 statement that he wanted the company to achieve both those goals.<\/p>\n

Clark said that the company had decided to eliminate marijuana from the pre-screening policy, noting that \u201cin the past, like many employers, we\u2019ve disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the law changes in states across the country legalizing marijuana, Clark said the company had decided to change course on the issue. There are two exceptions mentioned by Clark: Amazon will still drug test those who have positions regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and also will test employees for drugs and alcohol after any incident.<\/p>\n

Federal Marijuana Legalization<\/h2>\n

It remains to be seen if Amazon\u2019s endorsement of the MORE Act will lead other companies to do the same. U.S. House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler, a Democrat, reintroduced the act on May 28.<\/p>\n

Although President Joe Biden has favored decriminalization of marijuana, he\u2019s stopped short of endorsing legalization. However, marijuana advocates hope the Democrat-controlled Congress could finally end the federal prohibition on marijuana. Democrats maintain a slim margin in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, called the new Amazon marijuana policy a \u201chuge step forward.\u201d She noted that drug-testing for cannabis has blocked millions of people from getting jobs.<\/p>\n

We implore Amazon and other employers to let this be the starting point and not the goal post,\u201d she said, later adding: \u201cWe urge other employers to take note and follow suit, ending this counterproductive practice once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1118,1117,1119,313],"yoast_head":"\nAmazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dispensaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dispensariescom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-09T11:20:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-09T14:25:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-marijuana-policy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dispensaries Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dispensariescom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dispensaries Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/\",\"name\":\"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-09T11:20:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-09T14:25:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2935feeb3a368f3c87819d4c4d4cad0\"},\"description\":\"The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Dispensaries\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2935feeb3a368f3c87819d4c4d4cad0\",\"name\":\"Dispensaries Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d30250f23451474024d7b90b1b0b748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d30250f23451474024d7b90b1b0b748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dispensaries Editor\"},\"description\":\"The editorial staff at Dispensaries.com are industry insiders, focused on bringing you authoritative and in depth coverage of the legal marijuana industry. We cover everything to the business trends, latest products and even help the cannicurious people better understand cannabis and the industry around it.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dispensariescom\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dispensariescom\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/author\/dispensaries-editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use","description":"The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use","og_description":"The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/","og_site_name":"Dispensaries","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dispensariescom\/","article_published_time":"2021-06-09T11:20:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-09T14:25:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/amazon-marijuana-policy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dispensaries Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@dispensariescom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dispensaries Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/","name":"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-06-09T11:20:35+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-09T14:25:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2935feeb3a368f3c87819d4c4d4cad0"},"description":"The online retailer, one of the nation\u2019s largest employers, announces it will no longer include marijuana in pre-employment drug screenings.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/amazon-stops-pre-screening-potential-employees-for-marijuana-use\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Amazon Stops Pre-Screening Potential Employees for Marijuana Use"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/","name":"Dispensaries","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b2935feeb3a368f3c87819d4c4d4cad0","name":"Dispensaries Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d30250f23451474024d7b90b1b0b748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d30250f23451474024d7b90b1b0b748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dispensaries Editor"},"description":"The editorial staff at Dispensaries.com are industry insiders, focused on bringing you authoritative and in depth coverage of the legal marijuana industry. We cover everything to the business trends, latest products and even help the cannicurious people better understand cannabis and the industry around it.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dispensariescom\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/dispensariescom"],"url":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/author\/dispensaries-editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4132,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions\/4132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dispensaries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}