U.S. Army recruits will no longer need to obtain a waiver to enlist if they have a single conviction for possessing marijuana or drug paraphernalia on their records, according to newly released guidelines that go into effect on April 20 (or 4/20, as it’s fondly known among cannabis enthusiasts).
The updated regulations, which will also raise the maximum age for recruits from 35 to 42, are generally meant to expand eligibility opportunities for service in the military. And removing the marijuana waiver requirement for single possession offenses could significantly widen the candidate pool as laws around cannabis continue to evolve at the state and federal level.
“As the states continue to legalize marijuana versus those that don’t, and the federal government not yet legalizing—at what point are we hindering ourselves by holding people to this type of conviction that in some states is okay and some states isn’t?” Col. Angela Chipman, who serves as chief of the Army’s military personnel accessions and retention division, told Task & Purpose.
Under current Army policy, a would-be recruit with a simple cannabis possession conviction must apply for a waiver to clear them for service. For a waiver to be granted, they’d need to wait at least two years after applying and then pass a drug test at a Military Entrance Processing Stations facility.
The marijuana policy change eliminating the waiver requirement is one of multiple updates in a broader package of regulations. None of the other changes are directly tied to cannabis, so it’s likely a coincidence that the effective date of April 20 happens to be a day celebrated in marijuana culture.
“Eliminates requirement of a waiver for a single conviction of possession of marijuana or a single conviction of possession of drug paraphernalia,” a summary of the change says.
The full document also notes, however, that “the Army does not tolerate the use of marijuana or harmful or habit-forming chemicals or drugs” and that “in-service use may be punished under the” Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
Army enlistees who test positive for marijuana during their physical examinations would still need to wait 90 days before they can be retested and cleared with a negative test result. Failure to pass the second test would also still permanently disqualify them from enlisting in the future.
In 2024, meanwhile, Army separately updated its drug policy to clarify that soldiers are prohibited from using intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products like delta-8 THC. It is further cautioned servicemembers against eating foods containing poppyseeds, which can produce false positives when testing for opioids.
The military branch’s prior policy enacted in 2020 made clear that the “use of products made or derived from hemp,” even if it’s legal for civilians, is prohibited for soldiers. But that guidance came before delta-8 and other intoxicating cannabinoids became a mainstream feature of the largely unregulated cannabis market.
Instead, the Army at the time focused on non-intoxicating CBD, which servicemembers are also barred from using. It remains the rule that prohibited cannabis products include those that are “injected, inhaled, or otherwise introduced into the human body; food products; transdermal patches, topical lotions and oils; soaps and shampoos; and other cosmetic products that are applied directly to the skin.”
“This provision is punitive, and violations may be subject to punishment,” it says.
The language of the earlier Army guidance seemed to apply to delta-8, even if it wasn’t explicitly mentioned, but the branch has since put the policy more clearly into writing.
Meanwhile, in a notice distributed in 2024, the Army reminded military members that President Joe Biden’s pardons for federal marijuana possession offenses don’t apply to violations of military drug policies.
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Ever-shifting marijuana policies have prompted multiple military branches to clarify or adjust their own drug policies.
For example, amid the military’s ongoing recruiting crisis, the Navy in 2024 announced that it was expanding authority to grant waivers to recruits who arrive at boot camp and initially test positive for marijuana, instead of simply sending them home.
The change came shortly after a similar one was enacted at the Air Force, which reported in 2023 that it granted more than three times as many enlistment waivers to recruits who tested positive for THC as officials anticipated when they first expanded the waiver program in 2022.
For the Air Force in particular, this waiver program represented a notable development, as the branch instituted a policy in 2019 barring service members from using even non-intoxicating CBD, even if its derived from hemp and is therefore federally legal under the 2018 farm bill.
The Navy issued an initial notice in 2018 informing ranks that they’re barred from using CBD and hemp products no matter their legality. Then in 2020 it released an update explaining why it enacted the rule change.
In 2022, the Naval War College warned sailors and marines about new hemp products on the market, issuing a notice that said members may test positive for marijuana if they drank a Rockstar energy drink that contained hemp seed oil.
A Massachusetts base of the Air Force, meanwhile, released a notice in 2021 stating that service members can’t even bring hemp-infused products like shampoos, lotions and lip balms to the base. “Even if it’s for your pet, it’s still illegal,” the notice said.
Officials with the division also said in 2018 that it wants its members to be extra careful around “grandma’s miracle sticky buns” that might contain marijuana.
The Coast Guard has said sailors can’t use marijuana or visit state-legal dispensaries.
In 2023, the Department of Defense (DOD) said that marijuana’s active ingredient delta-9 THC is the most common substance that appears on positive drug tests for active duty military service members. The second most common is delta-8 THC, which is found in a growing number of hemp-derived products that are being made available, including in states where marijuana itself remains illegal.
One of the first attempts by the U.S. military to communicate its cannabis ban came in the form of a fake press conference in 2019, where officials took scripted questions that touched on hypotheticals like the eating cannabis-infused burritos and washing cats with CBD shampoos. That was staged around the time that DOD codified its rules around the non-intoxicating cannabinoid.
In 2024, a study found that 6 in 10 military veterans support marijuana legalization generally, while an earlier survey found more than 72 percent support among veterans for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors being able to legally recommend marijuana.
