The American retail giant Amazon has announced that, due to the recent shortages of delivery drivers, it will change its policy so (future) employees won’t be tested for cannabis.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon has already informed its delivery partners to tell their employees and future interviewees that they are not required to produce a negative cannabis test to work for them from now on.
Amazon hopes and estimates that this change will help to make the company more inclusive and increase the number of applicants can grow by 400%.
However, as some of Amazon’s partners told Bloomberg, they will keep screening for cannabis in states where recreational cannabis use is still illegal.
Also, some are concerned that some drivers can consume the drug before shift which – they say – could easily lead to accidents.
One person told Bloomberg: “If one of my drivers crashes and kills someone and tests positive for cannabis, that’s my problem, not Amazon’s.”
As Canex recently reported, some studies concluded that while cannabis use does impair driving-related skills in one way or another, the number of crashes and accidents haven’t risen significantly after cannabis legalisation in U.S. states.
Another recent study found that regular cannabis smokers drive as well as their sober counterparts.
Moreover, as the study authors stated, daily users drove slower after cannabis use as compared to the occasional use group and non-users.
In a statement, an Amazon spokeswoman said cannabis screening has disproportionately affected communities of colour, stalling job growth.
She said: “If a delivery associate is impaired at work and tests positive post-accident or due to reasonable suspicion, that person would no longer be permitted to perform services for Amazon.”
Amazon, as Bloomberg reports, has long been lobbying for a Federal cannabis policy change – with this move, the company puts more pressure on the government.
