CBD News Aggregator – Since the dawn of humanity, contemporary laws have always failed to keep up with public opinion and perception of divisive social issues. It can be seen in the history of fighting racism across the world, as well as other equal rights movements, from feminists to LGBT activism. Despite the shift in public opinion on those matters, outdated, repressive laws have continued to slow progress down in its tracks.
Cannabis users and activists have also fallen victim to this process. Although the ‘green wave‘ has already kicked off with various American states fully legalizing the substance for medical and recreational use, marijuana enthusiasts still have a long way to go when it comes to reforming the judicial system’s flawed relationship with this revolutionary plant.
One of the last, more powerful bastions of discrimination against marijuana users are mandatory drug testing practices on the employees of many major companies. It is one thing not wanting people to show up at work intoxicated, but testing for the substance’s presence in one’s body is a completely different question, as marijuana’s components stay in your system long after its effects wear off. Mandatory drug testing is very common even in states that legalized cannabis, such as Washington DC.
Before you go “hold up, is weed legal in DC, or has something changed again,” it is worth considering that corporations’ internal policies can be different from the state’s laws, although they do have to comply with them. This is why, even though marijuana use is completely legal in DC, you can still lose your job because of it, which reverses much of the progress that has been made in the recent decade.