From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Needing Younger Workers, Federal Officials Relax Rules on Past Drug Use   
   By Ernesto Londoño, April 30, 2023, NY Times   
   Not long ago, urinating in a cup for a drug test was a widely accepted, if   
   annoying, requirement to start a new job. The legalization of marijuana in   
   more and more states in recent years upended that, prompting many employers to   
   shelve hiring rules from    
   the “Just Say No” era.   
      
   There was a major holdout: the federal govt, by far the nation’s largest   
   employer. But now, it too is significantly relaxing drug screening rules as   
   agencies struggle to replenish the ranks of a rapidly aging work force in a   
   tight job market.   
      
   During the past five years, the U.S. military gave more than 3,400 new   
   recruits who failed a drug test on their first day a grace period to try   
   again, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act   
   request. Agencies like the C.I.A. and    
   the F.B.I. have adopted more lenient rules regarding past use of marijuana   
   among job candidates, officials acknowledge.   
      
   And later this year, the Biden admin is expected to take another major step,   
   scaling back how deeply the government delves into the drug histories of   
   people applying for a security clearance.   
      
   Polls show that more than half of Americans have used marijuana recreationally   
   or medicinally and that a majority believe it should be legal. Medical   
   cannabis use is legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Recreational   
   marijuana is lawful in 22    
   states as well as the nation’s capital but remains illegal under federal law.   
      
   “We don’t want to be disqualifying half of the population, tens of   
   millions of people, for having done something that most of our recent   
   presidents have done,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat   
   who has introduced legislation    
   that would deem marijuana use immaterial in security clearance reviews   
   required for many federal jobs. “You’re taking huge numbers of people off   
   the field.”   
      
   Once hired, federal employees remain barred from using drugs including   
   marijuana, even in states that have legalized it. And while there is broad   
   support for more permissive hiring policies regarding past marijuana use, the   
   shifting rules have critics.   
      
   When Gen. David H. Berger became the commandant of the Marine Corps in 2019,   
   he expressed concern about how prevalent drug use had become among Marines.   
      
   “I remain troubled by the extent to which drug abuse is a characteristic of   
   new recruits, and the fact the vast majority of recruits require drug waivers   
   for enlistment,” he wrote in a report on the state of the Marine Corps. The   
   Marines declined to    
   provide specific data on drug waivers for enlistment.   
      
   Until recently, admitting recent drug use was disqualifying for many roles.   
   But even some of the government’s most selective agencies have loosened   
   their rules as part of a patchwork of policies that have gone largely   
   unnoticed outside of the federal    
   government.   
      
   The C.I.A., for instance, began telling applicants in April of 2022 that they   
   needed to refrain from using marijuana for just 90 days before submitting an   
   application, shortening its previous one-year eligibility requirement. In   
   2021, the F.B.I. reduced    
   its marijuana abstention requirement for those seeking employment to one year   
   from three.   
      
   In December 2021, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence,   
   issued a memo stating that past recreational marijuana use ought to be   
   regarded as “relevant,” but “not determinative,” in deciding a   
   person’s suitability for sensitive    
   national security work.   
      
   And late last year, at the urging of senior national security officials, the   
   Office of Personnel Management put forward a proposed overhaul of the security   
   clearance vetting process that would effectively stop regarding people who   
   previously used    
   marijuana as a security risk.   
      
   Currently, people applying for a security clearance must disclose a detailed   
   account of their use of illegal drugs during the past seven years. Background   
   checks to issue security clearances explore whether an applicant has been   
   truthful about drug use.   
      
   Under the proposed new rules, the govt would limit that time frame to 5 years   
   for drugs other than marijuana, and applicants would be asked to disclose   
   marijuana use only during the 90 days before they sought the job.   
      
   The recent arrest of a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking   
   classified documents has renewed debate in Congress about how the government   
   protects its secrets. But officials said that case had not affected the   
   proposed overhaul of the    
   security clearance screening process regarding drug use histories.   
      
   A senior intelligence official involved in personnel policies said the   
   government is struggling to recruit people in their 20s as the unemployment   
   rate is among the lowest it has been in half a century. The official, who   
   declined to be quoted by name    
   because the proposed changes in the government rules remain under review, said   
   it had become clear that the intelligence community needed to adjust to a   
   changing landscape as its employees grow older.   
      
   The govt competes for talent with the private sector, which often offers   
   better salaries, more opportunities for remote work and, increasingly, a   
   laissez-faire approach to drug use that doesn’t affect job performance.   
      
   Military recruiters ask prospective service members about their alcohol and   
   drug use and are instructed to disqualify those with substance abuse problems   
   — current or past. A key hurdle comes when recruits take a drug test at a   
   military entrance    
   processing station as they officially join. For years, failing that test   
   usually meant getting kicked out on Day 1.   
      
   In 2022, 4,710 recruits failed their entry drug tests, a nearly 33% increase   
   from 2020, according to military data.   
      
   Between 2018 and 2022, the Army granted waivers to more than 3,300 recruits   
   who failed a drug test or admitted past drug use that technically made them   
   ineligible, according to Army data. The Army has historically been more   
   lenient with waivers than the    
   other services.   
      
   The Navy, which had a zero-tolerance policy for those who failed an entry drug   
   test, launched a pilot program in 2021 that allowed recruits the chance to   
   take a second test after 90 days. Over the past three years, the Navy said it   
   has issued drug    
   waivers to 1,375 recruits.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)