How The Trend Of Marijuana Affects The Workplace

Tuesday, 19 August 2025, 8:27 am
Article: Hugh Grant

In the past 50 years, legislation has changed greatly around marijuana. In 1969, only 12% of all Americans were in favor of it being legal, however that number has soared to 70% as of 2023. In fact, its acceptance has grown so much that there are now only 4 U.S. states where it is not legal to some degree.

At present, the legality of marijuana ranges from fully legal to medicinal purposes to decriminalization, but what does this mean for people who want to use it? Well, full legal means that it can be used for any purpose whether for pleasure or otherwise. However, some states such as Alabama, Florida, and Georgia chose to make it legal for medicinal purposes only, meaning you would need to be prescribed it. Conversely, some states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina have marijuana as a ‘decriminalized only’ substance. This means that possession of marijuana is categorized much less harshly, similar to a minor traffic violation rather than a misdemeanor or felony.

However, despite how broad the spectrum of marijuana legalization is, it is estimated that over half of the U.S. population lives in a state with legal recreational marijuana. The number of states that have fully legalized marijuana has now grown to 25 and includes many major states. Big names like California, New York, and Washington D.C. States like Colorado and Alaska allow you to carry up to an ounce of marijuana without problem. Similarly, Washington allows you to have an ounce of ‘usable marijuana’, meaning 72 ounces of liquid marijuana, 16 ounces of concentrate, or just 7 grams of edibles. Oregon even lets you maintain and grow up to a 24 ounce supply of marijuana for medical purposes, or a maximum of 24 immature cannabis plants at a time.

On the other side of this, states like Idaho and Wyoming still heavily punish possession of the plant. In both states, possession could lead to 1 year in prison and a $1,000 fine. In the latter case, possession of more than 3 ounces carries a penalty of 5 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. South Carolina particularly is incredibly stringent, as less than an ounce is a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days imprisoned and a $200 fine. In Kansas, while not actively cracking down on marijuana, they also are regressing by failing to keep up. Kansas lawmakers have yet to advance any marijuana legislation despite bills being presented for full legalization, decriminalization, and exemptions for military veterans.

Due to the fact that regulations and laws around marijuana vary greatly from state to state, employer-testing for employee marijuana usage can see great variance. Despite it being legal to most people, only around 11% of employed U.S. adults admit to using cannabis. Around 39% of users say they go to work high weekly and a whopping 73% say being under the influence of marijuana improves their performance at work. This has led 48% of employers to stop testing for cannabis in the pre-hire process.

Corresponding to the uptick in marijuana users, legislation around how marijuana is tested has also been rapidly changing. The state of Nevada has banned all pre-employed marijuana testing, except for safety-sensitive positions like Firefighters, Professional Vehicle Operators, or EMT’s. New York City passed a similar law 5 months after Nevada, and Washington, D.C. has a law dating back to 2015 providing job applicants with the same protection from these tests. Other states, such as Arizona and Arkansas require an accommodation for authorized medical marijuana users and 5 years.

However, even in states that do test for it, the integrity must be called into question. It is estimated that 6,000 samples were classified as ‘substituted’ tests, meaning another person’s sample was tested rather than the intended applicant. Another 25,000 samples were classified as ‘invalid’, which can be for a large number of reasons. For example, an invalid test could be some type of additive that was mixed into a sample. These invalid tests have skyrocketed in just the span of a year. It is estimated that they are up 45% from 2022 to 2023.

With all these changes to legislation and testing, it’s certain that regardless of where you are in the US, change is heading your way.

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