Cannabis & Federal Jobs: Applicants Need Not Report Pot Use Unless It Occurred In Past 90 Days

Landing a federal job has never been easy. Of course, it all depends on the type of job and government agency, but nonetheless, rules around federal employment have always been strict. Now they seem to be loosening up, at least when it comes to marijuana use.

According to a document obtained by Marijuana Moment, a federal agency is looking to substitute a batch of job application forms for prospective employees that would regard past cannabis use as more acceptable than it is under the current system.

The change with the most significant impact is the timeline of the marijuana consumption questions. In other words, prospective employees would be asked about cannabis consumption within the 90 days prior to application, unless they had consumed while previously working in criminal justice, public safety or national security positions. In those cases, job applicants would be asked about cannabis use that occurred at any time.

At the moment, job application forms ask applicants about cannabis use within one year, five or seven years, depending on the security level of the position they're seeking.

The idea behind these changes is to keep up with “changing societal norms” as more and more states legalize marijuana and to expand the pool of potential employees for these federal positions, the Office Of Personnel Management (OPM) recently explained.

Furthermore, the new application forms highlight the fact that consumption of marijuana products with less than 0.3% of THC need not be reported because they're considered legal hemp under federal law. This also marks important progress, writes Marijuana Moment, as previously federal agencies have advised workers to abstain from the use of hemp products, such as CBD oil because they can be mislabeled and contain higher levels of THC than disclosed. THC levels above 0.3% could result in a positive drug test.

In addition, these changes would allow federal employers to have more details about applicants’ cannabis usage and help them make better hiring decisions. If a person admits to having used marijuana in the past 90 days, they can be asked follow-up questions and given the opportunity to explain why they consume.

“Currently, use of marijuana by federal employees is prohibited, while past use of marijuana by applicants is evaluated on a case-by-case basis when agencies make trust determinations,” OPM said in its initial notice about the draft forms. “Given the legal landscape at the state level regarding the use of marijuana, distinguishing between past marijuana use and use of other illegal drugs on the PVQ may improve the pool of applicants for federal employee and federal contractor positions.”

Cannabis & Employment

This is not the only progress underway around marijuana and employment. At the beginning of this year, Avril Haines, director of national intelligence (DNI), said that security clearance applicants who have used cannabis should not be instantly rejected when applying for a federal employment job.

Last year the FBI changed its rules. The agency now allows candidates who have not consumed cannabis for one full year to apply for a job.

The largest federal workers union in the nation accepted a resolution this year backing cannabis legalization and urging the removal of policies penalizing federal workers over their off-the-clock marijuana use in states where the plant is legal. The measure is called “Resolution to Support Deleting Responsible Off-Duty Marijuana Usage from Suitability Criteria,” though details of the final version have not yet been released to the public.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 700,000 federal employees, passed the resolution at its 42nd National Convention in June.  

The draft resolution notes that there is “increasing acceptance of marijuana use in American society, including for medical treatment for veterans of the armed forces and others.” It also points out that “federal regulations unreasonably cast marijuana usage as a matter of concern for security reasons.”

As such, AFGE members urged the OPM to “rescind its policies regarding pre-employment use and off-duty use of cannabis by federal employees in non-safety-sensitive, non-national security positions to the extent such cannabis use is permitted by state or District of Columbia law.”

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