The Department of Defense Considers Cannabis a Threat to National Security?

Wait…WHAT? How is Cannabis a Threat to National Security?

cannabis national security threat

A recent article on Market Watch reported about a strange occurrence that’s happening in the government. It specific relates to government employees who own stocks in marijuana companies, and might be in jeopardy of losing their security clearances.

In a particular case concerning a Department of Defense employee who listed his marijuana-related investments on a financial disclosure during an annual security clearance check-up was notified that he had to get rid of his marijuana stocks.

According to a Union Officer, he received a letter stating that he was “violating public trust by owning a marijuana stock.”

Cannabis use is against the security clearance guidelines due to the federal illegality of marijuana. The guidelines indicate that the use of an illegal substance is grounds for revoking security clearances.

But owning stocks?

According to a memo released by an attorney from the DoD [not the official position of the DoD], the document claimed that the Airforce received numerous inquiries regarding purchasing of marijuana stocks. The Memo continued explaining that the Pentagon treats “investments” in marijuana-related companies as “involvement”, which is prohibited.

Additionally it added that “owning marijuana-related stock is a reportable incident” and authorities would determine whether the ‘involvement’ raised questions about the individual’s “Judgement, Reliability, Trustworthiness, and willingness to comply with laws, rules, and regulations, including federal laws”.

However, as mentioned, this is merely the opinion. This didn’t stop the memo from being circulated online, which prompted a lot of questions from many people. In reality, there is no policy on the ownership of marijuana stocks in the DoD.

Nonetheless, attorneys who specialize in “Security Clearances” urge personnel to not invest in marijuana-stocks. This is because if the DoD sees you investing in marijuana-related companies you could lose your clearance.

Which beckons the question; How is Marijuana a Threat to National Security?

Cannabis and National Security

One could argue that cannabis is actually not a threat to national security but rather an ally. Since cannabis was legalized in 2012 by States like Colorado and Washington. There has been a direct impact on the illegal drug trade and the amount of cannabis being shipped into the United States.

What this means is that there is less money being shipped off to the Drug Cartels, which in turn affect their payroll and reduces their ability to perform illegal activities. Of course, Drug Cartels don’t just sell cannabis. They sell many other drugs and participate in things like Human Trafficking, Gun Trafficking and many other illegal activities.

Nonetheless, even a marginal decrease in funds being diverted to these organizations do hamper their ability to employ more people within the black market.

Thus, in theory…cannabis legalization is stopping money from reaching drug cartel pockets.

This is just a side note.

However, purchasing legal marijuana stocks shouldn’t even be on the table. You’re merely investing in a public company with the hopes of making money. In no way are you handling cannabis, responsible for the practices of a business or have any oversight on how that business is being run.

How in the world could that “Impair judgement”? I would argue that someone that can spot the trends of the market and society has “stellar judgement”. It insinuates that the individual has the ability to apply critical thinking and has foresight of what is happening within the country.

However, it makes sense that someone who invests in cannabis stocks aren’t so “on-par” with the philosophy of prohibition. This, which is the official paradigm of the federal government, means that there is a disconnect between their ideology and the individual.

In other words, if you’re not a compliant robot that follows blindly the rules established by the government, you might exercise your critical thinking abilities when they pass ridiculous rules. Within the government, compliance is their bread-and-butter.

It’s the reason why the Drug War has gone on for so long. Everybody was sucking up to the people in charge, never questioning the context of the laws or the massive fraud the government has done against the American People.

Nonetheless, the idea that someone who is interested in increasing their financial gains through a legal public avenue is in any shape or form a “threat to national security” is ludicrous. It merely shows the complete disconnect the US government has in relation to opinions and trends of the general public. It also shows that even though there is plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that cannabis is much safer than alcohol and tobacco, that they (Uncle Sam) will always double down on their policies over their reason.

Irrespective of what we believe, the DoD (at least at the time of writing this article) is not in favor of legalizing cannabis. Even after cannabis is legalized on a Federal level, the DoD would be one of the last players to accept reality.