Amazon has said that it will no longer screen most job applicants in the US for marijuana use.
In the past, like many employers, Amazon disqualified people from working at the company if they tested positive for marijuana use.
“However, given where state laws are moving across the US, we’ve changed course,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Amazon’s headquarters is in Washington State, which legalised marijuana for recreational use back in 2012.
The ecommerce giant is now building an East Coast headquarters in Virginia, where marijuana will become legal on July 1. New York also legalized marijuana in March.
“We will no longer include marijuana in our comprehensive drug screening programme for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead treat it the same as alcohol use,” Amazon said.
“We will continue to do impairment checks on the job and will test for all drugs and alcohol after any incident”.
Amazon’s public policy team will support The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act).
The federal legislation would legalise marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and invest in impacted communities.
“We hope that other employers will join us, and that policymakers will act swiftly to pass this law,” Amazon said.
