Days after the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (H.R. 3617), was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, Amazon, the nation’s second-largest private employer, announced it will no longer test most of its 1.3 million employees for marijuana. At the same time, Amazon publicly stated its support for the MORE Act.
NASW Senior Policy Adviser Mel Wilson said the company’s decision is monumental. “It is a huge step toward eliminating one of the last vestiges of the drug war―which was responsible for robbing many Americans of their livelihoods.”
Wilson noted there is hope this drug policy change will be the catalyst to a much larger industry-wide correction of a bad policy—ending drug testing for all drugs. Such a move will ensure a more just and equitable future for millions of people, especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities that have been disproportionately impacted by these employment requirements.