Amazon supports federal marijuana legalization law and drops drug screening
By Madhukumar Warrier
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) said it supports state legalization of marijuana and will drop marijuana testing requirements for some of its employees.
What happened: Dave Clark, CEO of Amazon’s global consumer division, said in a blog post that the e-commerce giant will actively support the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act), which will decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. The bill was re-submitted to Congress last Friday.
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Amazon also said it will adjust its company drug testing policy for some workers. The company will no longer include marijuana in its comprehensive drug screening program for entities that are not regulated by the Department of Transportation.
Instead, Amazon will continue to conduct impairment tests at work after each incident and test for all drugs and alcohol.
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Why it matters: Amazon had previously banned people from working for the company if they tested positive for marijuana use.The change to the company’s marijuana policy comes because many U.S. states have already enacted laws and regulations that legally allow the sale and use of marijuana.
In July last year, it was reported that Amazon had started a cannabis company Enlighten pharmacy solutions in its AWS Data Exchange, a marketplace for data operated by Amazon Web Services, for the first time ever. However, the company doesn’t allow marijuana sales on its platform.
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According to a report by Reuters in March, Amazon was hit by a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the company of violating a New York City law by testing applicants for jobs in local facilities for marijuana.
Price action: Amazon.com shares closed 0.14% lower at $ 3,218.65 in Tuesday’s regular trading session and fell another 0.14% to $ 3,214.14 in the post-trading session.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.
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