US Navy Overlooks Recruits' Past Cannabis Use To Reduce Boot Camp Dropouts And Recruitment Challenges

The U.S. Navy has implemented a significant change in its boot camp policy, opting to grant waivers to recruits who test positive for cannabis. This shift marks a departure from their previous zero-tolerance approach, reflecting the evolving legal landscape and a concerted effort to address their recruiting challenges.

“If they fail that test and own up, ‘Yes, I smoke marijuana,’ we do an evaluation of the young person to make sure there’s not something else going on,” said Rear Adm. James Waters, the director of the Navy’s military personnel plans and policy division. “But we trust that through the process of boot camp that we have an opportunity to bring them along with our culture.”

Waters explained the move as an attempt to adapt to societal norms, acknowledging the growing marijuana legalization trend in many states. In a November 2023 Gallup poll seven in 10 Americans said they thought marijuana use should be legal, the highest level yet after holding steady at 68% for the past three years.

Dropout Rate And Decline In Recruits: This policy change is part of a multifaceted strategy to reduce the dropout rate during boot camp, currently hovering around 10%. The move to decrease the number of recruits the Navy loses during the boot camp process is part of its effort to deal with the recruiting crisis that has plagued all branches of the service for the last several years, noted Military.com.

“If we’re going to recruit 40,000 sailors,” Waters said, referring to the Navy’s recruiting goal for 2024, losing 4,000 recruits through boot camp “is really, really unhelpful and so we want to try to continue to work on that.”

In addition to being more accepting of positive cannabis test results, Waters noted that the pre-boot camp physical training regimen that the Navy borrowed from the Army is yielding results as well.

However, the admiral stressed that there are no conversations about offering a similar leniency for any other drugs. He said, “We don’t do drugs in the military.”

Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy, taken by MC3 Dallas Snider