U.S army lifts ban on waivers for people with history of mental disorders

U.S. Army has lifted a ban on waivers for people with a history of such mental problems as self-mutilation, bipolar disorder, depression, as well as drug and alcohol abuse, local media reported.
The army has accepted more recruits who performed poorly on aptitude tests and increased the
number of waivers granted for marijuana use, offering, in addition, hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to meet 2016 goal of 69,000, the USA Today newspaper said.
The current expansion of waivers is likely aimed at recruiting 80,000 new servicemen through September 2018, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper added that such expansion was possible in part because the U.S. military had access to more medical information about each potential recruit.
The ban on waivers was introduced in 2009 amid high suicide rates among U.S. soldiers.