 Image by athree23-6195572 at Pixabay Marijuana Moment has obtained a draft of a federal agency’s proposed new job applications, which are far more lenient towards cannabis use than past federal job applications have been.
The Office of Personnel Management announced the changes in a Federal Register notice. The new proposal is now open to public comments, and will stay open for a two-month period. The reason for the proposed job application changes is to widen the applicant pool, due in part to what they call, “changing societal norms.” The draft is called the Personnel Vetting Questionnaire, and it would replace current forms for positions of varying levels of sensitivity and security. The current forms require applicants to disclose use of illicit drugs by simply checking them off on a list, without any context or explanation. Questions are for any cannabis use in the past one to seven years, depending on the security level of the job they are applying for. The new form now focuses it’s questions on consumption that occurred within the past 90 days. Use prior to 90 days is also asked, but the separate focus seems to signal that those who consumed cannabis more than 90 days ago would be treated differently than more recent consumers. Additionally, the new form gives applicants opportunities to explain the nature of their usage, rather than a simple check box showing use. This may indicate employer discretion regarding the nature of usage. The new form also states that use of cannabis products containing less than 0.3 percent THC, which means it meets the federal definition of legal hemp, does not need to be disclosed. That would include CBD products. There are some exceptions to the new form changes; jobs that would require more extensive questions would include those positions in criminal justice, public safety or national security position. The new job form proposed changes are a huge step, as prior to this, federal agencies have notoriously cautioned employees to avoid all cannabis, and cananbis derrived products, including CBD, because of the risk of potentially triggering a positive drug test. The Office of Personnel Management’s initial notice on the new draft forms said, “[Current] use of marijuana by federal employees is prohibited, while past use of marijuana by applicants is evaluated on a case-by-case basis when agencies make trust determinations.” They also said that these new form changes were necessary given the legal landscape of state’s with legal forms of cannabis, and added that the new forms, “may improve the pool of applicants for federal employee and federal contractor positions.” These forms are not for all federal jobs, only some which fall under the Office of Personnel Management. FBI, Department of Transportation, and EPA, are a few agencies with their own separate policies on cananbis use. Comments are closed.
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