Marijuana Use and Drug Testing

It’s a new era, people…with some interesting challenges.

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in 9 states, and medical marijuana is legal in 30 states, there are some interesting ramifications.

A recent Gallup poll showed that 64% of Americans favor legalization, and it seems to me that 10 years from now (if not much sooner!) we will be looking back at the days of marijuana being illegal the same way that we currently view prohibition.

For me, it has begun to be an issue as a recruiter.  The entire west coast has legalized marijuana.  That is going to knock a lot of applicants out of the hiring pool if a company won’t hire anyone that uses this legal drug.

If a client conducts a drug test, and my candidate – assuming they are partaking of a drug that is legal in their state, during their leisure time, and I would dare say less likely to affect their work performance (unlike alcohol, which can leave a candidate feeling hung over) – has legally used marijuana, they could lose a potentially valuable asset to their organization.

I am not in any way advocating the drug.  I have no particular affinity for it myself.  But professionally, I am concerned that we are going to be eliminating a lot of stellar performers from the arena based on the use of a substance that is increasingly being legalized.

It seems awfully random to me to “allow” employees to use alcohol during their leisure time, and “forbid” them to use marijuana…and you’re going to severely limit your pool of candidates if that is your corporate policy.

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In Market Conditions