An Empirical Assessment of the U.S. Army's Enlistment Waiver Policies: An Examination in Light of Emerging Societal Trends in Behavioral Health and the Legalization of Marijuana

• Published in: Policy File 2021
• Main Authors: Asch, Beth J, Hansen, Michael L, Smart, Rosanna, Knapp, David, Schwam, David
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: Drugs; RAND Corporation

Army enlistment standards are intended to ensure that applicants are able to perform military duties successfully and to select those who are the most trainable and adaptable to service life. However, these standards might also inadvertently screen out individuals who could have had successful careers if mitigating factors had been considered. Waiver authority provides the Army with the ability to reconsider initially disqualified applicants and make them eligible to enlist. Two trends of relevance to Army waiver policy are the dramatic expansion of the legalization of marijuana at the state level and the rising prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, and depression among children. Army standards continue to stipulate that applicants who test positive for marijuana require a waiver to be eligible for enlistment, and applicants with a history of ADHD, depression, or anxiety will not meet enlistment standards and might not even qualify for a waiver, depending on their specific case. To provide information on how the Army can strengthen its waiver policy, especially in light of these societal trends, RAND researchers conducted empirical analyses of the performance of recent recruits who receive waivers, including (but not limited to) those with a documented history of marijuana, ADHD, or depression/anxiety. The authors also examined the extent to which increasing the share of recruits who receive waivers (or who have a documented history of marijuana, ADHD, or depression/anxiety) affects the overall performance of that accession cohort.