US employers are quietly taking what once would have been considered a radical step: They’re dropping marijuana from the drug tests they require of prospective employees. Marijuana testing—a fixture at large American employers for at least 30 years—excludes too many potential workers, experts say, at a time when filling jobs is more challenging than it’s been in nearly two decades.
“It has come out of nowhere,” says Michael Clarkson, head of the drug testing practice at Ogletree Deakins, a law firm. “I have heard from lots of clients things like, ‘I can’t staff the third shift and test for marijuana.’”
Though still in its early stages, the shift away from marijuana testing appears likely to accelerate. More states are legalizing cannabis for recreational use; Michigan could become the 10th state to do so in November. Missouri appears on track to become the 30th state to allow medical pot use.
There is no definitive data on how many companies conduct drug tests, though the Society for Human Resource Management found in a survey that 57% do so. Nor is there any recent data on how many have dropped marijuana from mandatory drug testing.
But interviews with hiring executives, employment lawyers and agencies that help employers fill jobs indicate that dropping marijuana testing is among the steps more companies are taking to expand their pool of applicants to fill a near-record level of openings.
Businesses are hiring more people without high school diplomas, for example, to the point where the unemployment rate for non-high school graduates has sunk more than a full percentage point in the past year to 5.5%. That’s the steepest such drop for any educational group over that time.
