Weeks after the current administration said they planned to loosen weed use policies, the White House released five employees for prior marijuana use.
The Daily Beast said in a report that “dozens” of White House employees lost their jobs or got repositioned for remote workafter the discovery of past use of weed. All because of marijuana use at some point. Washington officials, though, have stated that the report was an exaggeration, that only a dozen were probably affected. They further clarified The Beast did not report additional security issues, including hard drug use, which led to the firings.
The administration has never released or published any official documentation regarding prior drug use. But NBC reported a source inside the administration said past weed use was not criteria for automatic dismissal.
The only public response from an identified White House official came from Press Secretary Jen Psaki. “Of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy.”
As a result, more people will serve who would not have in the past with the same level of recent drug use. The bottom line is this: of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 19, 2021
White House policy is drug use can disqualify an applicant for the top security clearance needed to work there. To bypass the policy, past users downplay their history. Anyone hired for a position that did not require security clearance got a waiver. This allowed them to work at the White House without clearance.
Those with clearance waivers are subject to exacting rules and scrutiny. These individuals take a pledge to stop smoking marijuana while being federal employees. They also agree to random drug tests and may have to work from home until they clear the standards.
The Biden administration has actually been more patience than prior administrations concerning the regulations. And it isn’t just campaign promises bringing down the heat. The terminations brought widespread criticism since marijuana is legal in the district. (On the federal level, marijuana remains illegal.)
Co-founder of DC Marijuana Justice, Adam Eidinger, said the firings are “outrageous.” The news is especially frustrating as he feels marijuana use in one’s free time does not affect their job performance. “You should only be looking at someone’s job performance to determine whether they are qualified to work in a place — not whether they used marijuana in the past or are currently using it,” Eidinger said.
Offended by the report, Morgan Fox of the National Cannabis Industry Association addressed the hypocritical and harmful nature of the policy and the firings. “It kind of reinforces the false notion that cannabis is a detractor from somebody’s ability to do difficult jobs with a lot of responsibility.”
Eidinger puts it more succinctly: “You should only be looking at someone’s job performance to determine whether they are qualified to work in a place — not whether they used marijuana in the past or are currently using.”
One of President Biden’s campaign platforms was the decriminalization of marijuana. He also planned to expunge cannabis conviction histories. A recent Gallup poll said 68% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana.
