Recently had an interview with a major media company who was very interested in hiring me. Said that I was very high on their list by application alone and that since they liked my answers so much during the first interview they excused me from the follow-ups and pushed me through to the final interview with the hiring manager. I took it as far as getting and accepting an offer.
However, despite me not being a THC user they had a policy against it and I wanted to waste their time deliberately. I went through getting them to process the background check, setting things up, and everything. Last thing before onboarding could fully commence was to do a drug test.
They gave me 48 hours from my acceptance of the conditional offer to get the drug test done at their partnered company before the test payment expires and it costs them more. I scheduled the test and then sent the following email just hours before the deadline that I have edited for you to be able to use it for the same purpose should you so choose to force these companies to change or suffer:
“[GREETING],
After some consideration, I am rescinding my acceptance of the [TITLE OF POSITION]. I realize that the company has likely already invested some finances in me, but I cannot get past the indefensibly archaic practice of drug testing would-be employees but not making exceptions for THC and Cannabinoid substances. Any company that still holds such embarrassingly regressive views and policies only show their complete lack of forward-thinking or outright rejection of established scientific fact and research. Especially laughable is that the company is itself more likely to be responsible for death or harm than THC while proudly proclaiming its “drug-free workplace” status. This is often despite the fact they actively endorse people swigging coffee all day long when caffeine is a drug, or allow people to take constant smoke breaks when smoking kills more people in a day than cannabis in total (not a single death in all of recorded history from cannabis alone).
Any company that would turn away excellent candidates for using something outside of work that is proven to be entirely safe is unworthy of good employees as well as being comprised of hypocrites. Even though I do not use cannabis, I refuse to work for a company that so needlessly and stupidly chooses to prohibit people from using cannabis outside of work but bats not an eye at people smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol at or outside of work respectively.
I regret having wasted my time and hope the company can take this as an opportunity to make itself worthy of continuing to exist in this modern world by discarding such antiquated and cyclopean policies. This has nothing to do with anyone in HR or Recruiting who has no say in writing or changing policies, but I do hope you ensure they receive this letter since it is actually written to them. The company and directly involved personnel are welcome to ignorantly reject this advice, but to do so means they are consciously choosing to disregard overwhelming scientific evidence in favor of committing to willful ignorance.
It is not because of me but because of the company that I send this message as you cannot fix a problem if you're unaware it exists. It is my great hope that this message, or someone with reason, can help you to make that change and join the modern age. I do hope [COMPANY NAME] can make the wise choice to stop being one of the ignorant voices in the economy. Until the company has wiser leaders and sharper minds dictating policy, it will never reach the true potential of what it could.
Regretfully,
[REDACTED]”