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

marijuanamoment.net

181–190 of 266 posts

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

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you right now if any job required a drug test, I wouldn't work there. I use cannabis sometimes but it's more the principal of it. It's a privacy violation and positive results don't actually mean you're intoxicated on the job. What people do in their free time is nobodies business so long as it's not harming other people.

> I can tell you right now if any job required a drug test, I wouldn't work there. Airline pilots? People operating dangerous machinery?

So why is getting shitfaced the night before flying a plane or jumping in a 20 story crane okay but not smoking a joint?

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

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why specifically them? The article mentions the NSA as well, which has done its fair share of domestic spying. As a taxpayer, it doesn't really matter to me how those lines are drawn, how budget/intel/personnel flow between them, what they call a mass surveillance program in any given decade, etc. In my short life, they've failed to prevent an attack, failed to prevent two major wars of false pretenses, failed to for…

> failed to foresee, much less prevent, a major Russian invasion... They absolutely did foresee it, we spent months announcing everything Russia was going to do before they did it. It's actually a brand new strategy Biden tried; usually we'd keep everything to ourself to protect how we got the info. But it didn't prevent it because nothing would have except assassinating Putin. That would be pretty destabilizing too!

That's a fair point.

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

#183
post #44

You could already get a clearance with past marijuana use (and other drugs) but I guess this would just make it so someone couldn't be denied a clearance solely for that reason.

A (very talented) friend of mine was supposed to work at the White House during the Obama admin. He got as far as signing documents and moving from California to Washington DC. That was when they told him that his offer was rescinded for past use of marijuana. They said there were no exceptions to the rule, but it was the only reason he was denied.

I have been told, though I have never personally applied for a clearance, by some people with clearances, that they cared a lot more in at least some agencies about you lying about having done it than they did about you doing it.

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

#184
Such a bizarre time in the US, just today folks I grew up with were raided by helicopter/dogs/cops on dirt bikes for growing personal use marijuana in their own home (8 plants). Meanwhile everyone knows marijuana crimes are a complete joke.

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

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proxy wars are still wars.

Tell that to all our infantry who aren't in any danger. Selling used military equipment is not being at war.

Tell this to the loved ones left behind by those killed in "not war".

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

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we're not in a war. Thanks Biden. What's your counterfactual?

Proxy wars are still wars.

"Proxy war" implies the US put Ukraine up to this. The US did not. Russia put Ukraine up to it by invading them.

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

#187
post #57

Marijuana (along with multi-lingualism) is a big reason why the Mormon-American community is significantly over-represented in the US intelligence community.

Mormonism is perfect for raising little worker bees. Mormonism deeply values work ethic and breeds a strong trust of authority. You're taught at an early age questioning authority is a sin and doing what your leaders tell you is the right thing to do. The end result is a group of people who are hard working, don't question leadership, and do what they are told.

[flagged]

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

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proxy wars are still wars.

Tell that to all our infantry who aren't in any danger. Selling used military equipment is not being at war.

They've just off-shored the lives lost. It's not any different than off-shoring manufacturing and poisoning some third world country with the waste chemicals and runoff instead of the homeland.

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

#189

Or... just decriminalize it altogether, including forgiveness of past use.

I agree, but these are two separate issues. Clearances can be denied for a variety of reasons. Something being considered a “security risk” is not necessarily related to its legal status.

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

#190
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They go on missions, very frequently outside of America, as a standard part of their early adult life. Learning the local language is pretty much a requirement.

I know that they go on missions. My question was regarding the "Mormon-American" framing which suggests that Mormonism exists in other countries, which I was not aware of.

Very much so, in fact, more Mormons live outside of the US than within the US. The church reports a population of 16,663,663 with 6,592,195 of those living within the US. (got those numbers from Wikipedia).

This article from 10 years ago reports that 56% of Mormon live outside the US and Canada at that time- https://www.deseret.com/2013/8/30/20524833/the-majority-of-m...

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