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Comment by lampshades | Hacker News Reader

CIA Operatives, if you would just not care about my large consumption of cannabis I would seriously consider joining. There are a lot of us out there that would love to serve our country in some fashion by way of technology but we’re not allowed to.

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Just to clarify, but recognizing the OP is probably referring to ongoing use:

- CIA will consider you if you smoked marijuana in the past, up until 90 days before applying -- or after applying.

- CIA will consider you if you have used illicit drugs up until a year prior to applying at CIA.

https://www.cia.gov/cia-requirements/

Back in college, two of my friends went to a CIA recruiting event. One friend was a native Farsi speaker and the other was born in Korea. Both came back dejected because the recruiter said they could not apply until at least a year had passed since they last smoked marijuana. Both ended up going to law school instead; few years after our graduation, Iran and North Korea made surprising (to U.S. intelligence) advances in their nuclear programs.

Think of all the resources we lose every year because of the stupid federal prohibition of weed.

I mean, that's not the CIA's choice, is it? Cannabis is, for now at least, still a federally prescribed substance. I don't blame them for not wanting employees that break the law.

I bet as soon as the law is changed they'd welcome you with open arms.

At least our Cool Big Brother the FBI lets us smoke 24 joints.

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/fbi-clarifies-that-using-mar...

Or smoked at 24 occasions. The formulation is unclear.

What if you take 24 hits from the same joint but you're high and forget you're smoking a joint and it keeps going out? Is that the same session?

You got too stoned to remember you're smoking a joint, but remembered you took 24 hits?

They'd probably tell you to get a job at the IRS.

That's why I keep an abacus on hand when smoking my joints.

I don’t think it is their choice, but putting my opinion out there just so they know there’s a potential pool of applicants if this is dealt with.

Yeah, and it's even worse because FBI, NSA, etc. lose thousands of potential recruits every year because of the weed ban.

If you smoke enough you are qualified for politics.

Weed is More popular with their staff. Politicians tend to prefer blow.

Totally agree, we wouldn't want to put our illegal shadow government in the position of having to break the law.

Of course it’s the CIA’s choice. There is no law saying that the CIA can’t hire someone who has broken the law. Are jaywalkers banned from being hired by the CIA too? It’s their choice to determine their self-defeating hiring requirements.

you dont actually have to be a member, there are a lot of contractors. pass the background checks so you can get security clearance, and offer the most consistent best of your ability.

depending on where you go, it may be an asset to be able to identify fake drugs vs real, and to be able to function reliably if you are somehow intoxicated by a beverage spiked with extreme quantities of THC.

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