Military Recruitment Struggles A Push to Loosen Rules Around Cannabis

Impacting Holloman Air Force Base, White Sands Missile Range and Fort Bliss locally the active-duty Air Force is projected to miss its 2023 recruiting goal by 10 percent, amid a historic low unemployment rate and a growling lack of interest and eligibility to serve among young Americans. The U.S. military in whole is having trouble attracting new recruits.

The Army is having a particularly hard time. It missed its goal of new recruits by fifteen thousand last year. This year, it’s on track to miss its goal by twenty thousand new recruits. The Air Force, the Marine Corps, and the Navy are facing similar challenges.

Only the military’s newest branch, Space Force, is meeting its recruiting target. Part of that is a function of size. The other services are trying to recruit thousands of service members; the far smaller Space Force needs just several hundred new recruits each year. Space Force also benefits from the high level of interest in all things related to space.

The percentage of Americans of service age who are eligible to serve in the armed forces is the lowest it’s ever been. It dropped from 29 percent in recent years to 23 percent last year. Fewer young Americans meet the military basic fitness standards. The decline in the percentage of Americans eligible to serve in the military has become accompanied by a declining interest in service. Just 9 percent of Americans of service age say they want to serve, down from 23 percent a few years ago.

More young Americans have used drugs. While marijuana is legal in twenty-one states plus the District of Columbia, its use is still disqualifying when it comes to joining the military.

Facing this significant shortfall and as the Defense Department struggles with recruitment a bipartisan pair of lawmakers is pushing to loosen the rules around past marijuana (cannabis) use for military recruits, as well as applicants for security clearance.

To counter what he called “a recruitment and retainment crisis unlike any other time in American history,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would eliminate marijuana testing for military recruits and allow those who had recently used the drug to enlist in the military.

Known as the NDAA, the bill, an annual reauthorization of U.S. military programs, is considered must-pass legislation, meaning any adopted amendments stand a greater chance of becoming law.

Asked about his proposal, Gaetz said in a statement: “I do not believe that prior use of cannabis should exclude Americans from enlisting in the armed forces. We should embrace them for stepping up to serve our country.”

Recreational marijuana is legal in 23 states, with medical marijuana allowed in 15 more. A poll conducted last year by Monmouth University found that 54% of U.S. adults said they have used marijuana in their lifetimes.

The prevalence of marijuana use is creating recruitment challenges, as many recruits cannot pass the drug tests required for service. Last year, nearly 5,000 recruits failed their entry drug tests, according to military data The New York Times obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The number was up 33% from two years earlier.

For those who do enlist, past marijuana use can be a roadblock to obtaining security clearances. Applicants for security clearances are required to disclose any drug use, including the legal use of marijuana, in the past seven years, though the Office of Personnel Management aims to change those rules.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, where recreational marijuana is legal, has proposed an amendment to the NDAA that would prohibit “the denial of security clearances by an agency on the sole basis that an individual used marijuana if, under the laws of the state where the individual used marijuana, such use was lawful.

A shrinking military due to recruitment shortages strains the military preparedness. Alamogordo and Otero County, New Mexico with is location as a point of convergence of 3 major military bases and with legalized cannabis use feels the pinch in recruiting. Shortfalls place programs and local growth at risk. Congressional leadership from New Mexico should strongly support this legislation to remove past cannabis use as a strike against military hiring, security clearances and recruitment.

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