Politics
People Couldn’t Be Denied Federal Jobs Or Security Clearances Due To Past Marijuana Use Under New Bipartisan Bill In Congress
Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have introduced a bill to protect people from being denied federal employment or security clearances due to past marijuana use—and to provide relief for people who have already lost opportunities due to cannabis.
Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Zachary Nunn (R-IA) introduced the legislation—titled the “Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act”—on Thursday.
The bill says that “past use of marihuana by a covered person may not be used in any determination with respect to whether such person” is eligible for a security clearance or otherwise suitable for federal employment under existing code.
Within one year of enactment, all federal agencies would be required to create a process to review each past decision to deny security clearances or job opportunities over cannabis use going back to January 1, 2008, the bill says. They would need to maintain a website that details the process of reviewing such prior marijuana penalties.
“Upon receiving a request from any individual who was so denied a security clearance or employment (as the case may be), not later than 90 days after the date such request is so received, the Federal agency that denied such clearance or employment shall review the decision and determine if such decision was based solely on past marihuana use,” the legislation says.
The text of the newly introduced bill, which has not yet been posted on Congress’s website but which was obtained by Marijuana Moment, is nearly identical to a version of the CURE Act was approved by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Committee in 2023.
The previously introduced version of the legislation was scaled back by that panel from its original broader scope, which would have also protected federal workers from being punished for current marijuana use, and not just that which occurred in the past.
An amendment from Chairman James Comer (R-KY), however, limited the protections to prior marijuana use alone, so federal workers and holders of security clearances would continue to be penalized for active consumption.
The amendment additionally removed additional language related to agencies’ responsibility to review whether past security clearance or employment denials were based on marijuana use alone.
The CURE Act represents an expansion of an amendment that Raskin filed as part of a House-passed cannabis legalization bill in 2022. That measure would have only covered security clearances instead of also including overall employment decisions as is the case under the new legislation. However, the retroactivity would have required a review of denials going back further, to 1971. The amendment was narrowly defeated on the House floor.
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In the Senate, a similar bill, the Dismantling Outdated Obstacles and Barriers to Individual Employment, or DOOBIE, Act, from Sen. Gary Peter (D-MI), was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in 2024.
That bill stated that covered agencies “may not base a suitability determination with respect to an individual solely on the past use of marijuana by the individual.” The White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) would also need to adopt that policy.
The bill further said that “the head of a Federal agency may not base a determination that a covered person is ineligible for a security clearance solely on the past use of marijuana by the covered person.”
They additionally could not use prior cannabis use to deny a personal identity verification credential, which enables federal workers to access various facilities and information.
Also under the proposal, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) would be required to enact regulations that update its own cannabis policies and assist other federal agencies in implementing the employment and security clearance changes.
Read the full text of the new bill on marijuana and security clearances and federal employment below:
