Tech Giant Amazon: Lobbying the U.S. to Legalized Weed

BY: Chronic Staff | Recent News | October 17, 2021

Ramping up its pro-weed campaign, Amazon announced on Tuesday that it is actively lobbying for legislative reforms aimed at decriminalization and reaffirming its commitment to not screening job applicants for cannabis.

Beth Galetti, Amazon’s Senior Vice President of human resources, declared in a blog post of the company’s support for two pieces of legislation aimed at decriminalizing cannabis nationwide. With the 36 states allowing some level of access to cannabis and 18 states plus Washington, DC, legalizing recreational adult use.

MORE Act or Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021, introduced by the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, would remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances, effectively decriminalizing it at the federal level.

The other proposed law that Amazon is supporting is the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. It is a bill introduced by prominent Democrats, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Sens. Cory Booker and Ron Wyden. The legislation would similarly seek to legalize while providing funds to state governments to be used in expunging criminal records related to cannabis-related convictions at the state level.

Employing 950,000 people in the U.SAmazon said that it supports these proposed bills for reasons like pre-employment testing for cannabis that may impact people of color. It means getting rid of the pre-employment testing for cannabis allows them to hire a larger pool of people.

The stance of Amazon on cannabis among its ranks began to change at least a few months ago like in June when reports said that the company ditched its pre-employment testing for the intoxicating plant for positioned vehicles also to encourage contract delivery companies to operate and that they would not screen for marijuana.

This is actually an interesting turn for Amazon - which has proven itself to be a terrible employer in many other ways. A comment from Amazon has been awaited regarding this endorsement of the legislation. An ensuing response or article is worth waiting for.