Weed in the Workplace?

With the widening legalization of pot in the U.S., companies and co-workers are adjusting to greater openness about the drug.

By Krithika Varagur
Nov. 17, 2021
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Marijuana is a common, if sometimes covert, element of American life. Offices are grappling with issues from referencing cannabis in job interviews to deciding whether it is ever acceptable to get stoned with a client.

Ted S. Warren/AP, Cover: Taylor Callery
“When it was totally illegal, you didn’t have to worry about it in corporate settings too much, but now there are a lot of gray areas.”

—Matt Kittay, a corporate attorney at Fox Rothschild in New York who counts cannabis companies among his clients

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Nearly half

of U.S. adults said in 2021 that they have tried marijuana, up from about 34% in 1999, according to a long-running Gallup poll.

Nathan Frandino/Reuters

Ed Roberts, president of his Southwick, Mass., staffing firm, has been a proponent of medicinal cannabis for nearly a decade and grows the plant at home. He has been enthusiastic about his hobby in the office for years and employees are used to his evangelism on behalf of the plant.

Austin Roberts

Other companies are similarly open to bringing cannabis into professional life. Liam Murray and Gina Larson-Stoller, employees at Mattio Communications, took part in a joint-rolling class as part of a summer company retreat in the Berkshires.

Mattio Communications

It can be a more loaded proposition for people of color, some of whom remain leery of openly discussing—or using—pot at work due to negative stereotypes, says Andrew Farrior, a managing partner at a New York venture company that invests in several Black-owned cannabis startups.

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Zuma

Drug testing prospective hires is becoming less prevalent as more states legalize pot. Some employers say they can’t afford to rule out potential hires in a tight labor market. Amazon predicted in June that its pool of qualified applicants would rise by 400% after ending screening most job candidates for marijuana.

Adrees Latif/Reuters

At the same time, cannabis companies are tightening their rules around workplace weed as they seek mainstream acceptance in business. And some offices are fine with off-hours use but say marijuana during work hours is a nonstarter.

Cole Burston/Bloomberg News

19 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized weed for recreational use.

But there is still a long way to widespread adoption: Many of the companies most eager to talk about using marijuana for team-building and socializing are connected to the cannabis industry.

Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune/AP

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Produced by Matthew Riva

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