FBI Announces Marijuana OK for New Hires

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now telling potential recruits to not let a history of marijuana smoking keep them from applying for a job.

Current FBI regulations prohibit hiring applicants who have smoked cannabis in the last three years. But, the agency found that many of the smartest, most talented people in the market are regular smokers.

Jammes Comey, the director of the FBI, said “I have to hire a great workforce to compete with those cybercriminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.”

Cybersecurity is a pressing problem right now for the FBI, and the restriction against marijuana use made hiring hackers and computer programmers difficult. The bureau is involved in major efforts against Chinese hackers and malware infecting large numbers of computers.

The bureau is budgeted to hire as many as 2,000 additional agents this year, and many of those new hires will be in cybersecurity. Comey stated his agency is “grappling with the question right now” of how to hire talented workers who do not smoke marijuana.

The announcement was made on Monday, May 20th, at a conference in New York City. At the event, an audience member asked the Director about a friend of his who wanted to apply, but could not pass the current prohibition.

“He should go ahead and apply,” Comey said.

Medical marijuana is now legal in 21 states, and approved for recreational use in two others.