As Marijuana laws in the USA from State to State keep changing making medical and even recreational use legal it is changing pre-employment background screening. It is useless testing new potential hires for the drug if in their State it is legal to use it. Marijuana criminality remains a hot topic especially since Congress took up the matter of de-scheduling the drug as Schedule 1 narcotic, a level of criminality that is shared with methamphetamine and heroin. With Congress looking at de-scheduling marijuana, combined with additional states voting to legalize recreational marijuana, the use of the drug and hiring will surely continue to be hot button items for HR Departments and hiring managers.

In 2020 the outgoing 116th Congress took up the issue of de-scheduling marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug in the House of Representatives and with the change in leadership the topic will most certainly return to the agenda of the 117th Congress. With control of Congress in different hands the conversation about de-scheduling marijuana should force all hiring managers and HR Departments to immediately plan for such a change, and a best practice remains to work with a well-qualified third-party pre-employment agency in order to remain compliant with existing and potential law.

Across the country voters are approving new legislation allowing for the lawful use of recreational marijuana. Often time’s steps are taken, at the state level, to expunge previous marijuana-related convictions.

Starting on January 1, 2021 Illinois will expunge previous marijuana convictions.

From the Chicago Tribune on January 5, 2021:

The first set of cases, dating from Jan. 1, 2013 to June 25, 2019, were to be expunged by Jan. 1. Cases dating from 2000 through 2012 must be expunged by Jan. 1, 2023. Offenses before 2000 must be expunged by the start of 2025, under the state law. In all, Will County has more than 11,000 cases eligible for automatic expungement under state law, Glasgow said.

Wiping records clear of a low-level drug offense can help open doors for jobs and other opportunities, attorneys said. ^{chicagotribune.com/marijuana/ct-sta-will-county-marijuana-expungement-st-0106-20210105-hb5lpyotfbfp7nrhcppgzmrkc4-story.html}

A federal level change to decriminalize the use and possession of marijuana would greatly reduce the potential of confusion with the use of criminal history reports in employment screening. It is counterproductive to convict people in this country of marijuana related offenses when most of the country doesn’t think it is a crime at all to use the drug for medical or recreational purposes. It is a futile effort that will only clutter our correctional facilities, cost us a lot of money and remove people from the work force further hurting our economy.

By some jurisdictions in this country expunging marijuana related criminal background records they are freeing these individuals from the stigma of having a criminal record which will enable them to get a fresh start and a job and start contributing positively to the USA and its economy.

To read more about this subject read recent press release: Marijuana May be the Big Issue in Pre Employment Background Screening in 2021; Opines CriminalBackgroundRecords.com