Amazon campaigns to make cannabis legal in the US

Amazon updated its advocacy for equitable workplaces, by striving for reforms to make cannabis legal in the US. In its blog, the company announced this week, its policy towards cannabis and its support for it.

In June 2021, Amazon had announced that it would exclude marijuana from its pre-employment drug screening program for unregulated positions in the company. They went a step further by reinstating employment eligibility for former employees and applicants who had been terminated or deferred after failing to pass the random drug screening test.

The company provides three reasons for its change in policy, primarily because many US states have begun legalizing the drug which has made ensuring equitable national pre-employment drug testing program, difficult. Amazon also emphasizes that public national data has indicated that marijuana testing as a prerequisite for employment, discriminates against people of color. The company believes in hiring more people, and found that eliminating the pre-employment drug testing program helped them have a greater applicant pool.

Amazon is now endorsing the “Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021” and the “Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act”. The ecommerce firm highlights its stance against the pre-employment drug screening program impacting people of color by stalling their job placement and economic growth as well. They strongly believe the inequitable treatment is “unacceptable”, and does not align with their goal to become the Earth’s best employer.

Amazon is enthused to be part of the support to help lead the effort to legalize cannabis nationally in the US and looks forward to working with the Congress and other supporters to bring about the necessary reform in the country.