By the Numbers: 20 December 2021
15%
The percentage of Army recruits between 2001 and 2012 who "needed some kind of waiver to get in, most often for health reasons," according to an article in the Rand Review -- Army Enlistment Waivers in the Age of Legal Marijuana.
Fewer than 1 percent had a history of marijuana use or possession, depression, anxiety, or ADHD. As a group, those recruits were not across-the-board riskier than any other recruits. By one key measure, reenlistment, they performed almost exactly the same.
When waivered recruits did get into trouble, it was often because of what they had been waivered for in the first place. Recruits who came in with a misdemeanor history of marijuana possession were somewhat more likely to go out on a drug charge. Recruits with a history of depression were more likely to get red-flagged for psychiatric limitations.
But those same recruits tended to perform better than average in other areas, often balancing out the negatives. Recruits with a history of marijuana were just as likely as other recruits to complete their first term and make sergeant, and they were less likely to leave the Army for health or performance reasons. Recruits with a history of ADHD were more likely to have health problems in the Army, but less likely to get court-martialed.
15%
The percentage of Army recruits between 2001 and 2012 who "needed some kind of waiver to get in, most often for health reasons," according to an article in the Rand Review -- Army Enlistment Waivers in the Age of Legal Marijuana.
Fewer than 1 percent had a history of marijuana use or possession, depression, anxiety, or ADHD. As a group, those recruits were not across-the-board riskier than any other recruits. By one key measure, reenlistment, they performed almost exactly the same.
When waivered recruits did get into trouble, it was often because of what they had been waivered for in the first place. Recruits who came in with a misdemeanor history of marijuana possession were somewhat more likely to go out on a drug charge. Recruits with a history of depression were more likely to get red-flagged for psychiatric limitations.
But those same recruits tended to perform better than average in other areas, often balancing out the negatives. Recruits with a history of marijuana were just as likely as other recruits to complete their first term and make sergeant, and they were less likely to leave the Army for health or performance reasons. Recruits with a history of ADHD were more likely to have health problems in the Army, but less likely to get court-martialed.