ATLANTA — Smoking weed will no longer immediately end your chances of becoming an Atlanta police officer.
The Atlanta Police Department said it lost too many qualified candidates when it asked if the person used marijuana in the past two years. So, the department is doing away with that box to check on the application.
The result, it believes, will be more qualified applicants in a very competitive field.
"You cannot smoke marijuana if you're an Atlanta police officer. Period. End of story," Police Department spokesperson Carlos Campos said.
Campos made the rules regarding drugs crystal clear. Drug use is not acceptable, but in order to recruit, where an applicant would’ve been weeded out with marijuana use in the past two years, the Police Department no longer holds that against a person.
“It’s just that attitudes and cultural norms are changing toward marijuana use,” Campos said.
With marijuana use now legal in 33 states, Georgia’s Department of Public Safety is changing its process.
Cox Media Group
