FBI eases drug policy to hire ex-pot smokers

Published: 08.02.2007


FBI eases drug policy to hire ex-pot smokers


USA TODAY



WASHINGTON - Aspiring FBI agents who once dabbled in marijuana use won't be barred from getting a job with the elite crime-fighting agency, which has loosened its drug policy amid a campaign to hire hundreds of agents.

The bureau's pot-smoking standard, in place for at least 13 years, was changed after internal debate about whether the policy was eliminating prospects because of drug experimentation, said Jeff Berkin, deputy director of the FBI's Security Division. The policy disqualified candidates if they had used marijuana more than 15 times.

There was no public announcement of the change, which took effect in January. Law enforcement agencies across the country are grappling with high rates of disqualification based in part on applicants' past drug use.

Berkin said the old policy was based on a scoring system that had become "arbitrary." He also said it created problems for applicants who couldn't remember how many times they had smoked pot.

"It encourages honesty and allows us to look at the whole person," Berkin said of the revised policy.

Experts said the policy reflects a changing view of prior marijuana use by law enforcement officials.

"Increasingly, the goal for the screening of security clearance applicants is whether you are a current drug user, rather than whether you used in the past," said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.


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