Amazon is ramping up its pro-weed marketing campaign, asserting on Tuesday that it’s actively lobbying for legislative reforms aimed toward decriminalization and reaffirming its dedication to not screening job candidates for hashish.
Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice chairman of human assets, declared in a blog post the corporate’s assist for 2 items of laws aimed toward decriminalizing hashish nationwide. The transfer comes amid increasing legalization at the state level, with 36 states permitting some stage of public entry to hashish and 18 states plus Washington, DC, legalizing leisure grownup use.
The primary is the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act), launched by Home Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, which might take away hashish from the federal authorities’s listing of managed substances, successfully decriminalizing it on the federal stage. The invoice additionally seeks to create new funding applications for communities which have been disproportionately affected by cannabis-related incarceration and policing, whereas additionally looking for to expunge related prison information. The invoice was beforehand launched and passed the House final 12 months in a historic vote earlier than in the end stalling within the then Republican-controlled Senate. Nadler reintroduced the invoice in Might, including some modifications.
The opposite proposed legislation that Amazon is supporting is the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act—a invoice launched by outstanding Democrats, together with Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, in addition to Sens. Cory Booker and Ron Wyden. The laws would equally search to legalize and regulate weed, whereas additionally offering funds to state governments for use in expunging prison information associated to cannabis-related convictions on the state stage.
Amazon, which employs 950,000 folks within the U.S., mentioned that it helps these proposed payments for quite a few causes—considered one of which is the untenable patchwork of state legal guidelines and incontrovertible fact that pre-employment testing for hashish “disproportionately impacts folks of coloration.” The corporate additionally famous that its continuous pursuit of “nice new staff members” signifies that eliminating pre-employment testing for hashish permits them to rent from a bigger pool of individuals.
G/O Media might get a fee
“We’re enthused by the notable momentum within the nation towards recognizing that right this moment’s establishment is unfair and untenable. We glance ahead to working with Congress and different supporters to safe crucial reform of the nation’s hashish legal guidelines,” Galetti wrote.
Amazon’s stance on hashish use amongst its ranks started to alter at the very least just a few months in the past. In June, stories emerged that the corporate was ditching its pre-employment testing for the intoxicating plant for positions (aside from these regulated by the Division of Transportation, comparable to truck drivers and positions that require heavy equipment operation), whereas additionally encouraging the contract supply corporations that function its fleet of blue vans to make it identified that they wouldn’t display for weed.
That is an fascinating flip for Amazon—which has confirmed itself to be a horrible employer in many other ways. On that notice, it’s additionally price remembering that everyone—from Elon Musk to the unfortunate ex-governor of New York—is aware of that appearing okay with weed is a surefire approach to make your self look cool and engender goodwill since most people know that prohibitions on it are simply regressive draconian bullshit.
We reached out to Amazon for touch upon its current endorsement of this laws. We additionally inquired as as to if the corporate plans on investing in any cannabis-related enterprise ventures sooner or later. We are going to replace this story in the event that they reply.
