SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Retail giant Amazon Inc. (AMZN) said on Tuesday that it was actively lobbying the Joe Biden Government to legalize cannabis federally. The company had first extended support to federally legalize cannabis in June.
The company said in a statement, 'Given our previous support for legalizing cannabis at the federal level, as well as expunging certain criminal records and investing in impacted businesses and communities, Amazon recently announced our support for, and began actively lobbying on, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021. We are also pleased to endorse the recently introduced Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.'
The U.S Government has drafted both the bills to remove marijuana from the federal list of 'Schedule 1' drugs, including LSD and heroin, and to bring about national legalization to the use of marijuana.
One of the main reasons Amazon is actively supporting legalizing marijuana is because it makes hiring process easier.
Amazon senior VP of human resources Beth Galetti said, 'We've found that eliminating pre-employment testing for cannabis allows us to expand our applicant pool.'
Amazon's consumer CEO Dave Clark said that the retail company would no longer reject employees on the condition that they are using marijuana.
Clark commented, 'In the past, like many employers, we've disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use. However, given where state laws are moving across the US, we've changed course.'
The main reason why Amazon is pushing for federal legalization of cannabis is that the company feels the relaxation of rules will help it with employing for its warehouses, which forms the majority of its workforce. The company feels that it cannot hire new employees as fast as the ones leaving, so the relaxation of cannabis rules will be considered beneficial in hiring new workforce.
In order to federally legalize marijuana, Amazon has already spent at least $5 million on lobbying efforts alongside over 160 other groups, who have the same demands.
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