FBI Manages To Hire A Few Thousand Hackers Who Don’t Smoke Weed

Cannabis, either for medicinal or recreational use, has been slowly becoming more accepted as time goes on, with 8 US states this past fall voting to legalize it for either purpose. At this point, seven states have legalized the drug for recreational use, and with California being one of those, there are going to be a lot of folks working in the tech industry who partake, either to take the edge off, or to inspire creativity.

That’s fine and good when you work for an employer that doesn’t have a stick up its ass – but what about the FBI? You can see where this is going, because the FBI isn’t exactly hard to read.

FBI Headquarters: the worst place to scout for weed

So picture this: Person A is better qualified for a job position than Person B, but A likes to have a toke once in a while (or every night – it doesn’t matter). In this particular case, the FBI would discriminate against Person A and opt to go with the less suitable person.

Does that matter, though? The FBI is only one of the most important agencies in the entire United States, after all. Surely it doesn’t need the best of the best in its cyber security team?

Given the momentum of acceptance around the US, it seems certain that the FBI is ultimately going to lose its battle, especially once it becomes clear that it’s ignoring some top-tier talent all because the agency wants to be stubborn, or simply ignorant.

A cannabis plant (Flickr: Martijn)

It might be worth mentioning that in order to be considered for a job at the FBI, you will need to go three full years without cannabis use, which is about 12~36 times longer than is needed to clean your system of the drug. Use cannabis for medicinal purposes? That doesn’t matter, either: no trace of this plant can be found at the FBI, unless it’s in an evidence room.

Sheesh. If ever there were people who needed cannabis, they can be easily found inside of the FBI’s walls.