FBI radical idea: consider ‘whole person’ in hiring

Posted on October 9, 2005 by Pete Guither

Via Cannabis News:

Washington, D.C. — The FBI, famous for its straight-laced crime-fighting image, is considering whether to relax its hiring rules over how often applicants could have used marijuana or other illegal drugs earlier in life.

Some senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could not hire applicants who acknowledged occasional marijuana use in college, but in some cases already perform top-secret work at other government agencies, such as the CIA or State Department.

That’s right. By eliminating marijuana smokers, you’re dumbing down the FBI! And of course it’s true. Almost 50% of the U.S. population has tried pot. That’s a huge reduction in your hiring pool.

The new FBI proposal would judge applicants based on their “whole person” rather than limiting drug-related experiences to an arbitrary number.

You mean you’d use actual decision-making in your hiring and find the best person for the job? What a concept! Except, that’s how I’ve always hired people. I didn’t realize I was so far ahead of the field. Maybe it would work in other areas.

Private companies have wrestled with the same problem. Employers complain they can’t afford to turn away applicants because of marijuana use that ended years earlier, said Robert Drusendahl, owner of The Pre-Check Co. in Cleveland, which performs background employment checks for private companies.

“The point is, they can’t fill those spots,” Drusendahl said. “This is a microcosm of what’s happening outside in the rest of the world.

Yep, it’s getting difficult to keep up with that zero tolerance stuff and still have a competent work force.

“I don’t think you could find anybody who hasn’t tried marijuana, and I take a lot of credit for that,” said Tommy Chong, the comedian whose films with Cheech Marin provided over-the-top portrayals of marijuana culture during the 1980s. “They’re going to have to change their policy.”

Thank you, Tommy.

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