cannabisnews.com: State MJ Laws Complicate Federal Job Recruitment
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State MJ Laws Complicate Federal Job Recruitment
Posted by CN Staff on June 29, 2015 at 05:04:57 PT
By Matthew Rosenberg and Mark Mazzetti 
Source: New York Times
Washington, D.C. -- For all the aspiring and current spies, diplomats and F.B.I. agents living in states that have liberalized marijuana laws, the federal government has a stern warning: Put down the bong, throw out the vaporizer and lose the rolling papers.It may now be legal in Colorado, in Washington State and elsewhere to possess and smoke marijuana, but federal laws outlawing its use — and rules that make it a fireable offense for government workers — have remained rigid. As a result, recruiters for federal agencies are arriving on university campuses in those states with the sobering message that marijuana use will not be tolerated.
So members of a new generation are getting an early lesson in what their predecessors have done for as long as there has been espionage, diplomacy and bureaucracy. They are lying and, when necessary, stalling to avoid failing a drug test.As any regular marijuana smoker will tell you, it usually takes about two weeks for evidence of marijuana use to disappear from urine, a urine sample being the method by which drug use ordinarily is tested.“Delaying something is part of what a good diplomat is supposed to know how to do,” said John, a young American diplomat who lives in Washington, D.C., where marijuana use became legal this year. “If you can’t put off a test for two weeks, I mean, come on.” He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used in an effort to avoid losing his job.Government officials who have gotten high are hardly rare, and the long list of elected officials who have admitted to past use of marijuana — and other substances — starts with President Obama, who wrote that he had used both marijuana and cocaine. But there is a widening chasm between what voters are willing to tolerate and what federal agencies allow, leaving men and women who are trying to build careers in government with a choice between honesty and their ambitions.The C.I.A. requires that its job candidates be “generally” drug free for at least a year, and asks potential hires about past use, according to Lyssa Asbill, an agency spokeswoman. But how much past use constitutes too much is not clear.The F.B.I. has even tougher standards. The bureau insists that recruits refrain from marijuana use for at least three years before hire.Yet even the director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, acknowledged last year that his agency’s rule could hurt recruitment, although no federal agency has yet offered specific numbers or other evidence that they are having trouble filling jobs. “I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cybercriminals, and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview,” he said at a conference on white collar crime in May 2014.Some members of Congress were not amused by Mr. Comey’s suggestion that the F.B.I. needed to ease its drug standards, and he soon made it clear that the bureau had no plans to radically revamp its policies on marijuana use.Spy agencies have seen “no discernible impact” in recruitment as a result of the changes in state marijuana laws, said Joel Melstad, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.Across the rest of government, standards vary for drug testing and for how much past used is permissible.Law enforcement jobs, unsurprisingly, tend to be the toughest. There are also less obvious government employers that insist on testing hires before they start, such as the Environmental Protection Agency. A posting for an associate director for ecology at the agency on the USAjobs.gov website said that “pre-employment drug testing is required.”But the National Park Service, in a posting for a science education coordinator, might as well say marijuana smokers are welcome. The announcement states outright: “This is not a drug-tested position.”Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, which has oversight over the federal bureaucracy, sent a governmentwide memorandum in late May reminding employees that even though several states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized marijuana, “federal law on marijuana use remains unchanged.”“Drug involvement can raise questions about an individual’s reliability, judgment and trustworthiness or ability or willingness to comply with laws, rules and regulations,” Ms. Archuleta said in the memorandum.The State Department does not test people before they are hired, and it has no time period for which applicants must be drug free before joining its ranks.Viewed that way, the State Department’s rules may seem relatively permissive. Marijuana smokers like John, who was among a small number of State Department employees who were selected for random testing, get 30 days to submit to a drug screen.“That was plenty of time,” John said. “I made sure to give myself 18 or 19 days, and then I did it.” Once they have started working, federal employees are supposed to grow only basil and oregano in their gardens, while their neighbors in Washington are allowed to cultivate marijuana.Based on interviews with a handful of federal workers living here, John’s marijuana-smoking story is not unique. One recent federal hire with a security clearance said he and many of his friends believed that the government was basically asking them to lie when applying for jobs. The hire, a university graduate from a Western state with liberal marijuana laws, was adamant that neither his name nor the agency where he was about to start working appear in print.Another State Department official, who joined the diplomatic corps a few years ago, said he had decided to grow a few marijuana plants in his backyard. He had tried to grow his own in college, but his landlord spotted the plants and quickly halted the project, saying it was illegal.Now, the official owns his home here in Washington, where it is legal to grow up to six plants, though only three can be mature at any given time. If discovered, he said, he would claim that the plants belonged to his wife, who does not work for the government.But he was not eager to test that excuse. He asked not to be identified by name, and added: “I don’t think I’m going to be having my boss over for a cookout.”Mr. Obama, who wrote in his 1995 memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” that he had frequently used drugs during his youth, is not alone. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, two Republicans who hope to become president after Mr. Obama leaves, have admitted they smoked marijuana in the past.Mr. Bush said he smoked marijuana while he was a student at Andover, adding it was “pretty common” there. Mr. Cruz said through a campaign spokesman that he had smoked marijuana in the past but regretted doing so.The spokesman said Mr. Cruz had “foolishly experimented.”Kitty Bennett contributed research.Source: New York Times (NY)Author: Matthew Rosenberg and Mark Mazzetti Published: June 29, 2015Copyright: 2015 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/j2BiwC1tCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 07, 2015 at 05:22:36 PT
A Thought
Did anyone notice you can send money through Private Message on Facebook now? I haven't used it. I use PayPal to send money to a family member too.
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Comment #6 posted by observer on July 06, 2015 at 17:36:55 PT
gofundme kills Kris L's account for ___ ? 
Amen Kaptin, and good on you for pointing Kris Lewandowski's case out to us last week (before I heard of it)! But a nasty twist there for Mr Lewandowski ... It looks like gotfundme just banned/censored/pulled Kris' account (which got over $10,000 in about five days); the fascists just can't stand being exposed like that. From that facebook link (from kaptin's post, below)
So, the powers that be at GoFundMe decided all of a sudden that the funds raised for Kris' legal defense are against their rules. They removed our campaign.
People need to raise a holy stink about that police-state tactic, and expose gofundme for what they are. This needs to be known far and wide. We need to treat gofundme as damaged, and route around it. Meaning finding an alternate for gofundme and using it. And I wouldn't rely on facebook either: fb has a nasty history of making people's fb accounts go "poof!" when it behooves the establishment. But really, this gofundme business of them cancelling his account needs to be thoroughly and well and good aired so that people will know what kind of dishonest police-state team players they are dealing with at "gofundme".
http://drugnewsbot.org
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on June 30, 2015 at 18:40:50 PT:
More about Kris Lewandowski
The FaceBook page: http://tinyurl.com/pba3s7aThe legal defense fund page: http://www.gofundme.com/y5w24c4I sent what I could.This is unconscionable, and yet, I daresay none of us is surprised. And that's what's really sad, is that we expect to hear of such insanity as being a sick, twisted kind of 'normal' when it comes to MMJ.One more reason to avoid traveling through 'flyover country'.
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on June 30, 2015 at 09:14:10 PT
Oklahoma 
Didn't see this on CNN!http://truthinmedia.com/exclusive-war-veteran-with-ptsd-faces-life-in-prison-for-pot-his-wife-calls-for-help/
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on June 29, 2015 at 14:51:21 PT
There are so many government workers,
including law enforcement, enforcers and agents of all sorts, data entry, pencil pushers, and file clerks at every level, local, state, and federal... that they have the rest of us against the wall with a knife at our throats. They do not want to give up their good government jobs. To make matters worse, they are a serious bloc of voters unto themselves.I wonder what percentage of the population actually works for the government or are dependent on someone who works at some level of government? I wouldn't be surprised if it was half of us. I guess you can't blame those people (Few, if anyone is altruistic enough to give up a good job for the greater good)... but our governments are way too large, convoluted, incompetent, dangerous, greedy, sucking, and totally resistant to needed and necessary change. The whole nation is being held hostage by many of those drawing a salary from a government agency. It needs to be trimmed up, leaned up, and made more competent. Realistically, knowing people, I really can't see how that could happen. It's like a bunch of squatters in some of those jobs... and we're going to have an awful time getting them out of there.
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Comment #2 posted by schmeff on June 29, 2015 at 10:46:12 PT
Smaller Government?
You would think conservatives would be all over legal cannabis. Think of it. If a hard line against cannabis use is keeping federal agencies from hiring new recruits, it naturally follows that the size of "government" will shrink as it becomes more and more difficult to replace government workers.You might think that someone in government could see the writing on the wall...but this almost never happens.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 29, 2015 at 09:34:31 PT
what a joke
of course the booze can flow for the FBI every night, no problem! they must be smoking some good herb - the buzz takes 3 years to wear off???>>>The F.B.I. has even tougher standards. The bureau insists that recruits refrain from marijuana use for at least three years before hire.
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