FBI MAY CHANGE ITS DRUG POLICY

New Rules Considered For People Who Admit Past Marijuana Use

WASHINGTON - The FBI, famous for its straight-laced crime-fighting
image, is considering whether to relax its hiring rules over how
often applicants could have used marijuana or other illegal drugs
earlier in life.

Some senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could
not hire applicants who acknowledged occasional marijuana use in
college, but in some cases already perform top-secret work at other
government agencies, such as the CIA or State Department.

FBI Director Robert Mueller will make the final decision. "We can't
say when or if this is going to happen, but we are exploring the
possibility," spokesman Stephen Kodak said.

The change would ease limits about how often -- and how many years
ago -- applicants for jobs such as intelligence analysts, linguists,
computer specialists, accountants and others had used illegal drugs.

The rules, however, would not be relaxed for FBI special agents, the
fabled "G-men" who conduct most criminal and terrorism
investigations. Also, the new plan would continue to ban current drug use.

Current rules prohibit the FBI from hiring anyone who used marijuana
within the past three years or more than 15 times ever. They also ban
anyone who used other illegal drugs, such as cocaine or heroin,
within the past 10 years or more than five times.

The new FBI proposal would judge applicants based on their "whole
person" rather than limiting drug-related experiences to an arbitrary number.