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Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

marijuanamoment.net

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Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#11

Post by csydas »

koolba wrote: post #8
Der_Einzige wrote: post #2

[flagged]

Yes, goodbye to my go-to strategy of a drug fueled bender with any new business partner to ensure they’re not a narc.

Er, it was never a strategy in the first place? Or this is just a joke? :)

But to be clear, law enforcement agents (all as far as I'm aware) are allowed to do illegal things to catch their mark. In the US at least, this is not entrapment unless they forcibly coerce you to do something you normally wouldn't; just smoking or snorting some stuff in a casual setting isn't enough, they'd have to have you more or less at gunpoint or threatening in another way to make you do it.

Just a very important fact for people to remember: Law enforcement agents in the US can and will lie frequently and do illegal things in pursuit of their goal.

Entrapment does not mean what most people think it does, so it's not good to rely on this, as entrapment has a very narrow legal definition far away from the layperson definition.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#12

Post by qbasic_forever »

sparrish wrote: post #5

Yeah, cause those are the people we want most paranoid?!

As I understand it the drug use screening in a security clearance isn't so much because the government are squares but it's that illegal drug use is something that could be used to blackmail you. The worry is if the KGB learns about your cocaine habit they could confront you and demand you work for them as a double agent or they'll expose your illegal activities and ruin your life.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#14

Post by escapedmoose »

yieldcrv wrote: post #10
Der_Einzige wrote: post #2

[flagged]

“your stoner friends”, lol, where are people like you still found? In California, and the entire West Coast, recreational use of marijuana is as normal as alcohol use. People that use substances are different than those that abuse substances, and yet you are conflating the two. “Senate lets people that have had a drink before work at Intelligence agencies” “my alcoholic friends working as spooks would be a threat to…

While I agree with your general point, recall that DC is on the East Coast, and that there recreational marijuana use isn’t nearly so culturally accepted as it is on the West.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#16

Post by standardly »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #12
sparrish wrote: post #5

Yeah, cause those are the people we want most paranoid?!

As I understand it the drug use screening in a security clearance isn't so much because the government are squares but it's that illegal drug use is something that could be used to blackmail you. The worry is if the KGB learns about your cocaine habit they could confront you and demand you work for them as a double agent or they'll expose your illegal activities and ruin your life.

When it comes to cannabis, that obviously isn't much of a factor. How the hell could someone be blackmailed over weed? Most people that use, don't care who knows, certainly not enough to literally commit treason to your country to hide it. I think the major problem is just in principle: it's federally illegal so if you use it you are a criminal thus can't hold clearance

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#17

Post by jonathankoren »

csydas wrote: post #11
koolba wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, goodbye to my go-to strategy of a drug fueled bender with any new business partner to ensure they’re not a narc.

Er, it was never a strategy in the first place? Or this is just a joke? :) But to be clear, law enforcement agents (all as far as I'm aware) are allowed to do illegal things to catch their mark. In the US at least, this is not entrapment unless they forcibly coerce you to do something you normally wouldn't; just smoking or snorting some stuff in a casual setting isn't enough, they'd have to have you more or less at g…

Being serious, I think this is the correct take. There's a lot of in misinformation about outing undercover cops, most famously the mistaken belief that cops can't lie about not being a cop. Regardless, from my experience on a federal grand jury that almost exclusively dealt with drug cases, the cops just get someone in your group to flip, and possibly wear a wire.

Bonus: Hanging up a sheet between the kitchen and the living room when you cook meth, isn't enough to protect the people in the living room from catching a case of Conspiracy to Manufacture.

Re: Senate votes to let people who’ve used marijuana work at intelligence agencies

#20

Post by jonathankoren »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #12
sparrish wrote: post #5

Yeah, cause those are the people we want most paranoid?!

As I understand it the drug use screening in a security clearance isn't so much because the government are squares but it's that illegal drug use is something that could be used to blackmail you. The worry is if the KGB learns about your cocaine habit they could confront you and demand you work for them as a double agent or they'll expose your illegal activities and ruin your life.

It's not just blackmail. There's also the fear that addiction to expensive controlled substances will lead to money problems, and thus the desire to sell some of the valuable secrets you have.
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