Amazon is lobbying for the legalization of marijuana in the US

Amazon is lobbying for the legalization of cannabis in the US in the future. The US stance on cannabis is no longer up to date.

In June of this year, Amazon announced that it would no longer test employees for marijuana as part of its own drug screening program. People whose employment had already been terminated due to proven marijuana use or who had not been given a job as a result were given a new job offer. Now the group is going one step further.

As Amazon explains in its own blog, the company wants to lobby for the legalization of cannabis and the use of marijuana throughout the United States. Specifically, the commitment should relate to the “Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021” and the “Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act”. Both initiatives advocate the legalization and taxation of cannabis.

The US stance on cannabis is no longer up-to-date, explains Amazon. Tests for marijuana use before hiring are more likely than average to affect members of non-white communities and thus contribute to their disadvantage and economic weakness. Because one is striving to become “the best employer in the world”, something like this is unacceptable. In addition, the circle of potential employees can be significantly enlarged again. About 950,000 people currently work at Amazon in the United States.

The legalization or controlled access to marijuana in individual US states such as California, Alaska, Oregon or Nevada also make it difficult to proceed in a nationally uniform manner in drug screening, Amazon continues.

In Europe, too, calls for a decriminalization of cannabis use are increasing in many countries. This is accompanied by numerous startups that offer cannabidiol-containing products and want to get the hemp plant out of the crazy stoner corner and move it into the center of an entire branch of industry.