As the federal government struggles to recruit young people, a recent survey found that 30% of those between the ages of 18 and 30 have either declined to apply or withdrawn applications for jobs because of strict marijuana policies required for security clearances.

The poll, published on the unofficial marijuana holiday April 20 by ClearanceJobs and the Intelligence and National Security Foundation (INSF), interviewed young adults about federal employment policies, focusing on cannabis.

Participants were first asked whether they’d consider working in a federal position that requires security clearance, and almost 80% said they either would or might consider applying; 40% also said that they’ve used marijuana in the past year.

One of the most notable findings is that 20% of participants said they’ve declined to apply for federal jobs because of the government’s restrictive cannabis policies. Another 10% said they’ve withdrawn applications because of the marijuana rules.

The survey also found that 25% said the government’s marijuana policy would prevent them from seeking employment requiring a security clearance in the future. While 39% said they’d be willing to abstain from cannabis in order to secure a federal job, 18% said they wouldn’t. And 15% said that they wouldn’t stop using marijuana after getting a security clearance.

Interestingly, most of the panel didn’t have a firm grasp on what the government’s cannabis policy actually is. 16% said that any marijuana use automatically disqualifies applicants for security clearance, 37% said there’s no eligibility impact, 24% said it is one of several factors that are considered for clearance, and 23% said they didn’t know.

Similarly, there’s confusion about the policies for people who’ve already obtained security clearances, with 9% saying those individuals can use marijuana anywhere, 31% saying they can use in a legal jurisdiction, 33% saying cannabis use is prohibited, and 26% saying they didn’t know.

Only 4% of participants correctly answered both questions about what the federal government’s security clearance rules are for applicants and those who are already cleared.

The survey involved interviews with 905 adults aged 18-30 living in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, California, Florida, Texas and Colorado. The interviews took place in February. The margin of error is +/- 3.23 percentage points.

While marijuana employment policies under federal prohibition remain strict, various agencies have moved to loosen requirements as more states have enacted legalization.

For example, the United States Secret Service recently updated its employment policy to be more accommodating to applicants who’ve previously used marijuana, making it so candidates of any age become eligible one year after they last consumed cannabis. Previously, there were stricter age-based restrictions.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has also revised its cannabis rules for job applicants. Applicants who’ve grown, manufactured or sold marijuana in compliance with state laws while serving in a “position of public responsibility” will no longer be automatically disqualified.

Late last year, draft documents obtained by Marijuana Moment showed that the federal Office of Personnel Management was proposing to replace a series of job application forms for prospective workers in a way that would treat past cannabis use much more leniently than under current policy.

The Biden administration instituted a policy in 2021 authorizing waivers to be granted to certain workers who disclose prior marijuana use, but some lawmakers have pushed for additional reform.

For example, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said at a congressional hearing on marijuana legalization last year that he intended to file a bill aimed at protecting federal workers from being denied security clearances over marijuana.

Last year, the nation’s largest union representing federal employees adopted a resolution supporting marijuana legalization and calling for an end to policies that penalize federal workers who use cannabis responsibly while they’re off the clock in states where it is legal.

The Director of National Intelligence said in 2021 that federal employers shouldn’t outright reject security clearance applicants over past use, and should use discretion when it comes to those with cannabis investments in their stock portfolios.

The FBI also updated its hiring policies that year to make it so candidates are only automatically disqualified from joining the agency if they disclose having used marijuana within one year of applying. Previously, prospective employees could not have used cannabis within the past three years.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) also took a different approach to its cannabis policy in 2020, stating in a notice that it would not be testing drivers for CBD. However, DOT has more recently reiterated that the workforce it regulates is prohibited from using marijuana and will continue to be tested for THC, regardless of state cannabis policy.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) sent a letter to the head of DOT last year, stating that the agency’s policies on drug testing truckers and other commercial drivers for marijuana are unnecessarily costing people their jobs and contributing to supply chain issues.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also emphasized to its workers that they are prohibited from using marijuana—or directly investing in the industry—no matter the state law or changes in “social norms” around cannabis.

While the Biden administration did institute its waiver policy, it came under fire from advocates following reports that the White House fired or otherwise punished dozens of staffers who were honest about their history with marijuana.

Then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki attempted to minimize the fallout, without much success, and her office released a statement in 2021 saying that nobody was fired for “marijuana usage from years ago,” nor terminated “due to casual or infrequent use during the prior 12 months.”

I was doing research for a novel and needed to figure out how to throw a surprise party for the president of the US without being shot by the secret service. So I asked Robert de Niro, who was very sympathetic to my plight but unable to offer any real help.

🇺🇸 🚨

HOT TAKE

Hot take: 9/11 was NOT an inside job, it was the Mossad that set it up.

Cui bono? Who benefits?

The Israelis did.

What was happening in 2001?

The Palestine issue had been making progress for the last several years, the world was paying attention to resolving the issue peacefully.

Then 9/11 happened.

And the Israelis instigated the United States to spend the next 23 years attacking all of Israel's regional adversaries; Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and the US was also being instigated to attack Iran as well, and still is to this day.

So again we ask, cui bono?

Who benefited from 9/11?

We say the Israelis did.

@WorkerSolidarityNews

The Secret Lives of Mailmen

Acyn on Twitter.

That’s historian Michael Beschloss on MSNBC.

On the 4th of July there are often re-enactments of events from American history such as Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or Washington crossing the Delaware River.

In the future will Americans be depicting Donald Trump throwing his food or trying to strangle a Service Service agent who wouldn’t drive him to an insurrection?

ICYMI...

Donald Trump is unbalanced and delusional. It would be dangerous to have him as a deputy sanitation commissioner in a small town – never mind the President of the United States with control over the US nuclear arsenal.

Nevertheless, most Republicans continue to make excuses for him and kowtow to his every whim.

watching early s6 is so funny because you get to see how the uk views the us and it's so wrong.

Secret Service Finds Biden Attempting To Dig Own Grave On White House Lawn

"What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 millions people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen."

-- "How Far Would He Go", TIME Magazine's interviews with Donald Trump, April 30, 2024.

I know we're saturated in coverage of Trump and it's easy (and probably better for our mental health) to usually ignore most of the articles when we see them, especially since he's so full of shit and infuriating. But it's also important to recognize that he is going to be the Republican nominee for President and he could absolutely be elected in November, and if you thought his first term was scary and dangerous, you need to understand that in a second term he's going to have people around him that are better prepared and VERY willing to do the crazy shit that he wants to do to this country. They aren't even hiding the fact that they are seeking vengeance against political opponents whom they feel have wronged them, and are ready to fundamentally dismantle the democratic foundations that are barely holding this country together after nearly 250 years.

Just look at what Trump says about the people who he incited to attack the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and halt the peaceful transfer of power that has happened every four years since 1789:

"Trump has sought to recast an insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. 'I call them the J-6 patriots,' he say. When I ask whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says, 'Yes, absolutely.' As Trump faces dozens of felony charges, including for election interference, conspiracy to defraud the United States, willful retention of national-security secrets, and falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments, he has tried to turn legal peril into a badge of honor."

Oh, and please note that Trump -- a former President of the United States and possible future President of the United States -- said on the record in these interviews with TIME: "There is a definite antiwhite feeling in the country and that can't be allowed either." We are at a point where political leaders are outright saying that in this country again, and it's because of Donald Trump.

So, take the time to recognize that Trump is straight-up telling us the country we're going to be living in if he wins again in November. And understand that your vote matters -- and WHO you vote for matters -- because, as I've been saying for years now, ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES.

"The Secret Service's Secret"

They're racist! They're sexist! And I can prove it!! [[ITEM 1]]

The OPM made a few reports that detail race and (sort of) gender diversity in federal workplaces. Fortunately, they forgot to tick a box on the 2006 and 2010 editions of these reports, and they've been left wide open for us to look at. The Secret Service's entry reveals that 73% of their employees are white. No biggie, though, right? It may be natural randomness, or something else! [[ITEM 2]]

No, no it's not. Another report made the same year, 2010, that involves all federal employee demographics, says that the average minority hire rate for those federal positions was 33%. This lines up well with the 2010 Census, which says that white people made up 67% of the U.S. population at the time.

[[ITEM 3]]

"Okay, but they're still not sexist!" This report from the OPM shows that only 24% of their employees were female. 24%!! That is so low!! Item 2 says that the average female hire rate for federal positions was 45%! [[ITEM 4]]

The only possible hitch in this argument is that all my data was from 2010. What if they've changed since? Well, dear hypothetical reader, they haven't. This pamphlet thing from 2022 proudly proclaims that the male/female gender ratio in their offices is: 76% male, 24% female. ...right before their chapter about diversity.

WHAT DID WE LEARN?? The Secret Service is racist and sexist, and they have been for nearly two decades now.

Yeah, the 2006 reports line up perfectly too. This trend has been going for more than 16 years now. Whoops.

For Trump, the Legal Shoes Finally Drop - The New York Times

For Trump, the Legal Shoes Finally Drop – The New York Times

Criminal Referrals: In its final public session, the Jan. 6 House committee accused Mr. Trump of inciting insurrection and other federal crimes as it referred him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Cassidy Hutchinson: The former White House aide told the panel in September that a lawyer aligned with Mr. Trump had attempted to influence her testimony. A Diminished Trump: The…

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Ex-Oath Keeper: Group leader claimed Secret Service contact

Ex-Oath Keeper: Group leader claimed Secret Service contact

WASHINGTON — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a member of the extremist group before the 2020 election that he had a contact in the Secret Service, a witness testified Thursday in Rhodes’ Capitol riot trial. John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, told jurors that Rhodes claimed to have a Secret Service agent’s number and to have spoken with the agent about the…

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Secret Service official involved in Jan. 6 retires from agency

Secret Service official involved in Jan. 6 retires from agency

Secret Service agents stand guard as Former President Donald Trump sits for a deposition at the office of the NYS Attorney General on August 10, 2022 in New York City. A top Secret Service official who previously served in a political position in the Trump White House left the agency Monday for a job in the private sector. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images A top Secret…

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The Secret Lives of Mailmen

If you missed Tuesday’s hearing by the House select committee investigating Trump’s coup attempt, here’s a quick graphic recap.

The Secret Service as babysitters. I hope they remembered the Baby With Bone Spur On Board sign on the back window.

Trump having a food fight with the US Constitution.