Pot-Smoking White House Staffers Punished and Ousted For Past Use Despite Assurances

Dozens of White House staffers have been suspended, relocated, or asked to resign over past marijuana use, despite initial indications from transition officials that recreational use of cannabis would not be a disqualifying factor, according to the Daily Beast, citing three anonymous sources.

“The policy has even affected staffers whose marijuana use was exclusive to one of the 14 states—and the District of Columbia—where cannabis is legal. Sourcesfamiliar with the matter also said a number of young staffers were either put on probation or canned because they revealed past marijuana use in an official document they filled out as part of the lengthy background check for a position in the Biden White House.” –Daily Beast

Staffers were initially told by transition higher-ups that the administration would likely overlook past marijuana use, only to later be asked for their resignation.

“There were one-on-one calls with individual affected staffers—rather, ex-staffers,” one former White House staffer told the Beast. “I was asked to resign.”

“Nothing was ever explained” on the calls led by White House Director of Management and Administration, Anne Filipic. “The policies were never explained, the threshold for what was excusable and what was inexcusable was never explained.”

The news comes after a February report from NBC News that the White House would waive the requirement that all potential appointees in the Executive Office obtain “top secret” clearance.

“The rules about past marijuana use and eligibility for the clearance vary, depending on the agency: For the FBI, an applicant can’t have used marijuana in the past three years; at the NSA, it’s only one. The White House, however, largely calls its own shots, and officials at the time told NBC News that as long as past use was “limited” and the candidate wasn’t pursuing a position that required a security clearance, past use may be excused.” –Daily Beast

Reposted from Zero Hedge with permission.