Democratic senator leads legislation preventing federal agencies from barring applicants for marijuana use

As marijuana use becomes more mainstream, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) is sponsoring legislation that will prevent federal agencies from rejecting applicants if they have smoked a “doobie."

The Dismantling Outdated Obstacles and Barriers to Individual Employment Act, also known as the DOOBIE Act , was introduced to the Senate on July 11 and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Federal agencies are currently allowed to deny employment to qualified candidates solely based on their past use of marijuana.

“As we work to build a highly skilled federal workforce, it’s crucial that the federal government modernizes its hiring practices to reflect evolving laws and societal norms,” Peters said in the statement . “My bill will take the commonsense step to align federal statutes with existing agency guidance and ensure that talented individuals are not automatically disqualified from service solely due to past marijuana use.”

Currently, recreational marijuana use is legal in 22 states and Washington, D.C., and medical marijuana use is permitted in 38 states.

More than half of Americans have used marijuana recreationally or medically, polls show , and a majority believe marijuana use should be legal.

Anyone applying for a security clearance must disclose all of their illegal drug uses in the past seven years.

But back in April 2022, the CIA changed its disclosure requirements for employment applicants regarding their marijuana use from one year to just 90 days before submitting the application. And in 2021, the FBI reduced its marijuana abstention requirement for applicants from three years to just one year.

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Avril Haines, the director of National Intelligence, issued a memo in December 2021 stating that previous recreational marijuana use should not be “determinative” in deciding a person’s qualification to handle sensitive national security work.

The DOOBIE Act comes just months after the Biden administration proposed to change marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III. However, the rescheduling of the drug is still under review.