Reportedly, several White House staff members have been fired from their positions because of previous cannabis use.
According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, five staffers in total have been fired for previous drug use, including cannabis.
This is just more fuel for the fire that is the current cannabis debate in this country. So many states have now legalized, and with Mexico legalizing on the heels of Canada, many are putting pressure on the Biden administration to end federal prohibition. However, there has not been official movement in this direction yet.
“In an effort to ensure that more people have an opportunity to serve the public, we worked in coordination with the security service to ensure that more people have the opportunity to serve than would not have in the past with the same level of recent drug use,” Psaki said. “While we will not get into individual cases, there were additional factors at play in many instances for the small number of individuals who were terminated.”
The White House still claims there can be multiple factors that contribute to why people got let go, including hard drug use, and although their cannabis policy is less stringent than in the past, it is still somewhat restrictive, allowing up to 15 past uses in a year among White House staffers.
Regardless of this frustration, there is still some positive movement when it comes to the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management now claims that people are no longer unfit simply for past cannabis use, although they still take into account the seriousness of the use and the nature of the position.
However, while things are slowly moving in a progressive direction, many are still frustrated by the fact that people still can’t hold federal jobs over cannabis use, while they can go down the street from their office and have a drink whenever they please. Until cannabis is federally legalized, it will not truly be treated as a casual, recreational substance by the powers that be.
