Amazon, the second-largest U.S. employer behind Walmart, said on Tuesday that it will stop testing would-be employees for cannabis. In a blog post, the company said it had in the past disqualified people from employment for positive cannabis tests – “like many employers” – but decided to change course as more states pass legalization reforms.
The company also said its public policy team “will be actively supporting” the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act).
“We will no longer include marijuana in our comprehensive drug screening program for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead treat it the same as alcohol use. We will continue to do impairment checks on the job and will test for all drugs and alcohol after any incident.” – Amazon, Update on our vision to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work, June 1, 2021
The MORE Act was reintroduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) last week. The measure would remove penalties for cannabis possession, clear some cannabis-related criminal records, and establish social equity programs dedicated to repairing the communities most disadvantaged by the racist War on Drugs and undoing other generational harms of cannabis prohibition.
The House, which is controlled by Democrats, delayed a vote on the MORE Act last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, a U.S. District Court in New Jersey ruled in favor of a medical cannabis patient fired by Amazon over a failed drug test, allowing the case against the online retail giant to proceed in a lower court.
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