June 8, 2021

The Cannabis Race

“We’re adjusting our drug testing policy.

In the past, like many employers, we’ve disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use. However, given where state laws are moving across the U.S., we’ve changed course.

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.

And because we know that this issue is bigger than Amazon, our public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act).

Federal legislation that would legalize 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.”

— Dave Clark, CEO, Worldwide Consumer @Amazon

I have been diving deep into the cannabis world. It is fascinating watching our government build an industry from scratch, especially since the industry has been illegal, although that has never stopped the cannabis business.

Cannabis has destroyed generations of mostly Black families through incarceration. Now we can go into a dispensary and buy our favorite weed product. The laws differ state by state. Some states are having quite a time moving things forward, while others seem to control the process. NY State is just beginning. The first thing was legalizing cannabis, the second was a get out of jail free card for those in jail for just cannabis, and that’s about it. That is about to change. There is a committee being formed to decide how to distribute licenses for dispensaries and products.

There are huge companies in the cannabis space including, publicly traded companies and licenses only for certain parts of the business, and I could go on and on. The piece that hasn’t been figured out is crossing state lines and banking. Banking is key, and that has to come from the federal level. Right now, there is a huge divide. The federal government is aware of this but continues to kick the can down the road.

Last week’s most interesting piece of news is that Amazon will no longer test their workers for THC. This is huge. Amazon employs over 1 million people. By doing this, Amazon is acknowledging that smoking weed is legal. They don’t test for alcohol, so why should they test for cannabis. Changing their drug policy sends a huge shout-out to Washington.

Once again, politics or maybe Jeff Bezos is thinking about getting into the cannabis business.