White House Under Fire Over Reported Crackdown on Staffers Who Used Weed

Aidan McLaughlinMar 19th, 2021, 9:41 am
 
President Joe Biden

Saul Loeb/Getty Images

White House staffers are being targeted for their past weed use, according to a new report from the Daily Beast.

The Beast reports that “dozens of young White House staffers” have been punished for consuming marijuana in the past, even after reporting that staffers were reassured that use of the drug — which is legal in Washington D.C. — would not necessarily be a problem.

The staffers in question have been suspended, asked to resign, or “placed in a remote work program,” per the report.

One staffer said they were asked to resign in a one-on-one call with White House Director of Management and Administration Anne Filipic, but the specific policy regarding use of marijuana was never explained or made clear.

A White House spokesperson told the Beast that the administration is “committed to bringing the best people into government—especially the young people whose commitment to public service can deepen in these positions.”

“The White House’s policy will maintain the absolute highest standards for service in government that the president expects from his administration, while acknowledging the reality that state and local marijuana laws have changed significantly across the country in recent years,” the spokesperson said. “This decision was made following intensive consultation with career security officials and will effectively protect our national security while modernizing policies to ensure that talented and otherwise well-qualified applicants with limited marijuana use will not be barred from serving the American people.”

The White House also disputed the number of staffers that were affected.

The Beast notes that the exact reasons for the crackdown remain, in some cases, unclear. For example, background-checks could have found that some staffers misstated the details of their marijuana use.

Ben Rhodes, who served in the Obama administration, wrote on Twitter that if true the policy would be “wrong.”

There is one White House official in the current administration whose marijuana use is certainly not an issue: Vice President Kamala Harris, who told The Breakfast Club during the 2020 primary campaign that she smoked weed in the past.

The reported practice from the Biden White House prompted criticism on Twitter.

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Aidan McLaughlin - Editor in Chief

Aidan McLaughlin is the Editor in Chief of Mediaite. Send tips via email: aidan@mediaite.com. Ask for Signal. Follow him on Twitter: @aidnmclaughlin