I actually think that it is great that they are doing this, and I hope that they do it as ham-handedly as possible and as publicly as possible.
Our national policy toward cannabis is making a long-overdue tack toward full national legalization, and NASA's actions won't make a lick of difference within that broader context. However, another issue that exists in parallel to the broader legalization shift, where NASA is influential, is the Federal government's stance on marijuana use by Federal employees and contractors.
It is entirely possible that a Democratic Congress will decriminalize cannabis this spring, and several states (e.g., NY, CT) are likely to legalize soon. Regardless of the mechanics of exactly how and in what order it happens, I would posit that it is highly likely that 5 years from now, marijuana is going to be basically legal in the US, with some states continuing to ban it.
In that context, the Federal government could go a lot of different ways in terms of how it regulates its employees. It could say, "our policy matches the Federal policy", i.e., don't break any local laws but otherwise we don't care if you smoke weed. Alternatively, it could keep its current draconian personnel and hiring policies....which, importantly, would not require any action by anyone.
My personal belief is that the more widely covered egregious examples of the cannabis ban adversely affecting outcomes (e.g., 'now NASA can't get Elon Musk's help' is a punchy headline), the more likely it is that Congress will feel pressure to make the Federal bureaucracy more cannabis-tolerant.
So yeah -- NASA should investigate Elon and be as dumb about it as possible.
The Air Force previously announced it was not taking action re: Musk’s pot smoking [0]. The posted article is from today, and reports on actions taken by NASA.
Our national policy toward cannabis is making a long-overdue tack toward full national legalization, and NASA's actions won't make a lick of difference within that broader context. However, another issue that exists in parallel to the broader legalization shift, where NASA is influential, is the Federal government's stance on marijuana use by Federal employees and contractors.
It is entirely possible that a Democratic Congress will decriminalize cannabis this spring, and several states (e.g., NY, CT) are likely to legalize soon. Regardless of the mechanics of exactly how and in what order it happens, I would posit that it is highly likely that 5 years from now, marijuana is going to be basically legal in the US, with some states continuing to ban it.
In that context, the Federal government could go a lot of different ways in terms of how it regulates its employees. It could say, "our policy matches the Federal policy", i.e., don't break any local laws but otherwise we don't care if you smoke weed. Alternatively, it could keep its current draconian personnel and hiring policies....which, importantly, would not require any action by anyone.
My personal belief is that the more widely covered egregious examples of the cannabis ban adversely affecting outcomes (e.g., 'now NASA can't get Elon Musk's help' is a punchy headline), the more likely it is that Congress will feel pressure to make the Federal bureaucracy more cannabis-tolerant.
So yeah -- NASA should investigate Elon and be as dumb about it as possible.