> or associate with anyone who does
No wonder they're having problems finding candidates. Hackers are probably way more likely to use certain drugs like weed, MDMA and psychedelics than the general population, due to their intellectual curiosity and intelligence levels (which I assume are significantly higher than the average).
Do they really force applicants to disassociate with their friends and family, like in Scientology, or is it just a rule they only care really about in the most serious cases (if friends are dealers or have drug problems etc)?