Despite the Seattle City Council, Amazon continues to support cannabis

For the past three years, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant has made it his mission to drive Amazon out of Seattle and ruin the hundreds of mom and pop businesses their employees support, including local cannabis retailers . Despite the attacks on the company, its headquarters and even its employees, Amazon tends to push forward with progressive policies. The company recently hired applicants for drug testing for marijuana and is actively promoting it to be a cannabis-friendly place to work now. The company is asking its contracted delivery services to stop screening all drivers for cannabis.

For a new one report Amazon sent a message from Bloomberg to its delivery services this week asking them to stop testing applicants for marijuana. It’s a strategy Amazon believes will increase driver signups by as much as 400%, the news source claims, and end the driver shortage before the holiday season is in full swing for the next two months. Many delivery companies have gone along with the policy change, while others are not interested.

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“If one of my drivers crashes and kills someone and tests positive for marijuana, that’s my problem, not Amazon’s,” said an anonymous delivery service manager. Everyone who does business with Amazon reportedly shut up because the company urged them not to discuss the situation with the media, which is strange given the general stance on cannabis.

Over the summer, Amazon spoke out in favor of legalizing marijuana at the federal level. The company also said it would no longer test for drugs of applicants who are not regulated by the Department of Transportation. “In the past, like many employers, we have banned employees from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana.” wrote Dave Clark, CEO, Global Consumer. “But since the laws of the states in the US move, we’ve changed our course.”

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But now, Amazon wants its partner companies to make similar changes. Of course, the policy only applies to drug testing for marijuana. Delivery services are still required to test potential employees for hard drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. They just want these operations to take a step back on the marijuana issue, considering it’s now legal in half the nation. However, like alcohol, this does not mean that drivers can come to work or get stoned at work.

“If a delivery person is impaired at work and tests positive after an accident or on the basis of a reasonable suspicion, he is no longer allowed to provide services for Amazon,” said a company spokesman.

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Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Amazon is currently on a crazy hiring frenzy. The company is looking to fill some 55,000 open company and technology positions across the globe. In the US, it has to fill 40,000 positions to meet customer demand.

There are valid concerns that Amazon plans to reduce its footprint in Seattle amid the ongoing attacks by Sawant, the city’s high crime rate, and its paralyzed government. Cannabis-friendly Amazon was one of the local businesses that was shocked by the efforts of Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant and Lorena Gonzales to see popular Police Chief Carmen Diaz step down despite her efforts to control crime in the chaotic summer of 2020. During the recession, Amazon, along with Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market, offered its tenants tenant relief to help them weather the lockdown. Additionally, Amazon provided grants to neighborhood family businesses to help keep them afloat. Amazon has posted more than 12,000 jobs in the Puget Sound area, with the neighboring town of Bellevue benefiting from Sawant’s anti-job policies.

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Sawant was ordered to pay a fine of more than $ 3,000 to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) for using city funds to support their Tax Amazon initiative. She was charged last year with using urban resources to fuel her efforts to damage regional economic stability. Sawant is accused of violating COVID protocols last summer when she led hundreds of gangs in the locked Seattle City Hall. She used the BLM movement to support her ongoing attacks on Amazon with Moe’Neyah Dene Holland, a protester who followed Sawant and commented, “I want to tax Amazon too, but can we focus on black lives, please ? The statement garnered applause from the audience and underscored Sawant’s focus on harming one of the region’s top employers. Sawant’s focus on the retailer comes at the expense of progressive policies, including the legalization of cannabis. Data released in April 2021 showed that 32% of Amazon US employees are white. There is now a campaign under way to recall Sawant – something recently ruled by the Washington State Supreme Court can continue and is gaining momentum.