Marijuana users okay for FBI, not for college

Ever used marijuana? If you recently graduated from high school, chances are you have. Oddly enough, the federal government denies college financial aid to students with drug convictions, but is now permitting marijuana users to join the FBI:

WASHINGTON — Aspiring FBI agents who once dabbled in marijuana use won't be barred from getting a job with the elite crime-fighting agency, which has loosened its drug policy amid a campaign to hire hundreds of agents.

The bureau's pot-smoking standard, in place for at least 13 years, was revised after internal debate about whether the policy was eliminating prospects because of drug experimentation, said Jeff Berkin, deputy director of the FBI's Security Division. The policy disqualified candidates if they had used marijuana more than 15 times.

[...]

Berkin said the previous policy was based on a scoring system that had become "arbitrary." He also said it created problems for applicants who couldn't remember how many times they had smoked pot when asked in polygraph examinations.

"It encourages honesty and allows us to look at the whole person," Berkin said of the revised policy.

Makes sense to me. Perhaps we can get the FBI to sign on as a member of the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform.