| Wikipedia |
Although the voters in the state of Washington — home to several of the United States’ biggest naval bases — recently legalized marijuana, the Pentagon has reminded sailors that federal drug policies remain unaffected for members of the military.
The zero tolerance drug policy for all members of the U.S. Armed Forces was instituted by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981 after the fatal crash of a Prowler on board the USS Nimitz killed 14 crew members and injured 45 others. (The crash, of course, had nothing to do with marijuana, but autopsies showed several members of the flight deck crew tested positive for pot, so that gave them a convenient scapegoat upon which to blame the tragedy.)