The Legalization of marijuana Encourages Businesses to Relax Their Drug Testing Policies

The use of cannabis among American employees has increased along with the number of thc-friendly states across the country. The percentage of general U.S. employees who tested positive for cannabis in 2022 hit the greatest level ever seen by Quest Diagnostics, a medical lab and testing organization that started tracking annual workplace drug testing data in 1988.

As marijuana use becomes more legalized, societal views change, and attempts are made to diversify the applicant pool. Businesses are reducing the requirement for pre-employment marijuana testing. Employers discovered they could increase their application pool by doing away with pre-employment drug testing for marijuana use.

In 38 states, medical marijuana is accepted. More than 20 allow for recreational use. And when it comes to hiring and retention rules, businesses all throughout America are attempting to make sense of it all. Finding qualified employees is more difficult than ever, with the jobless rate hovering around record lows. Laws that are always changing, particularly those pertaining to marijuana, increase the complexity.

Some companies contend that it shouldn't matter what employees do on their own time until they arrive at work obviously stoned or with their mental abilities compromised. Another important aspect motivating the decision to ease drug testing policies is the aging workforce's shortage of youthful prospective employees.

It is crucial to remember that most businesses reserve the right to conduct drug tests on employees who are involved in workplace incidents that could have been avoided, or on individuals who arrive at work with demonstrably impaired mental capabilities.

The FBI and CIA are likewise loosening their drug regulations and permitting marijuana use among job applicants. Furthermore, the Biden Administration intends to be more tolerant when it comes to security clearances, considering that more than half of the American population has used recreational or medicinal cannabis, and the majority believe that it should be entirely legal.

Many businesses should benefit from the change in policy. Employers across the U.S. are juggling demands to relax drug testing for legal substances with worries that doing so could compromise safety and create liability difficulties in the face of a shortage of applicants.

Although it remains illegal at the federal level, states are also enacting their own marijuana laws. Therefore, HR professionals need to be aware of the applicable regulations before companies start firing workers who test positive for drugs or who look to have red eyes and be sleepy. After that, they should discuss their companies' policies on employee marijuana consumption with company executives.

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