FBI considers relaxing pot rules after it can't find qualified candidates

JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images

FBI considers relaxing pot rules after it can't find qualified candidates
(Image credit: JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images)

The FBI is considering changing its long-standing marijuana rules because it can't find qualified employees. The agency's current regulations bar applicants from having smoked pot within the previous three years, but FBI Director James Comey said Monday that those rules may soon be relaxed in order to attract and employ more hackers.

The agency is looking to fill 2,000 open jobs to help fight cyber crimes, and Comey considers this a challenge, since apparently many hackers also love getting high. "I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals, and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview," he said.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.