Amazon Publicly Supports Cannabis
Discover more from Four PM
Amazon Publicly Supports Cannabis
Amazon surprised the cannabis industry yesterday by announcing they are supporting the legalization of cannabis in the U.S
Four PM is a daily email newsletter delivering all of the latest cannabis industry insights direct to your inbox each morning.
Friends,
There was some huge news in the cannabis industry yesterday as the 4th most valuable company in the world publicly declared its support for cannabis.
I would go as far as to say that this declaration is the most and potentially most impactful event to occur in the cannabis industry so far this year.
There are two key elements to this announcement.
Amazon will no longer be testing their employees for THC, and they will be encouraging other employers to adopt this approach to cannabis in the U.S.
This itself is huge news for the cannabis industry with Amazon employing some 1,000,000 people, however, the second part of this announcement is the one that really grabbed my attention.
Amazon’s public policy team will be supporting the legalization of cannabis in the United States — a team with deep pockets, and even more political influence where it really counts: Washington.
Without overstating it, this is huge — Amazon, a company currently valued at $1.65 trillion dollars is mobilizing to support the cannabis industry.
“We’re adjusting our drug testing policy.
In the past, like many employers, we’ve disqualified people from working at Amazon if they tested positive for marijuana use. However, given where state laws are moving across the U.S., we’ve changed course.
We will no longer include marijuana in our comprehensive drug screening program for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead treat it the same as alcohol use.
We will no longer include marijuana in our comprehensive drug screening program for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead treat it the same as alcohol use.
And because we know that this issue is bigger than Amazon, our public policy team will be actively supporting The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act).
Federal legislation that would legalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and invest in impacted communities. We hope that other employers will join us, and that policymakers will act swiftly to pass this law."
— Dave Clark, CEO, Worldwide Consumer @Amazon
Amazon may very well go on to become one of the most important companies in the cannabis industry in the coming years — something I will discuss soon.
Today, I am celebrating the fact that the odds of cannabis being legalized in the United States have now significantly increased with Amazon likely having more political influence in the U.S than every existing cannabis company combined.
If you enjoyed today’s edition of Four PM, subscribe now to receive future emails directly in your inbox.