Amazon says "time has come" for U.S. to legalize marijuana

Amazon is calling on the U.S. government to legalize marijuana, saying it is urging Congress to pass federal legislation and catch up with the growing number of states that have decriminalized cannabis use.

The e-commerce giant also said that screening job applicants for cannabis makes it hard for the company, the nation's second-biggest private employer, to expand its workforce.

"We strongly believe the time has come to reform the nation's cannabis policy, and we are committed to helping lead the effort," Beth Galetti, Amazon's senior vice president of human resources, wrote Tuesday in a post on the company's blog. "Today's status quo is unfair and untenable," added Galetti, who noted the difficulty for companies in creating cannabis rules for workers given the discrepancy between federal law and local statutes.