Five White House employees were laid off as a result of previous marijuana use, weeks after the Biden government said it would loosen these policies in an effort to modernize and expand the number of people who can work there.
Authorities on Friday rejected a Daily Beast report that “dozens” of employees lost their jobs or were forced to work remotely due to previous marijuana use, saying the number was actually around a dozen. The authorities added that there were additional security problems for some of the dismissed employees, such as the use of hard drugs.
“Of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who started working at the White House are no longer employed because of this policy,” tweeted the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, on Friday.
The roles and identities of those who were released were not disclosed.
The White House did not issue any official guidance on the new policy, but in an NBC article last month, an official said that previous use of marijuana would not automatically disqualify employees.
Normally, White House employees must be given top secret security clearance, for which drug use can be disqualifying.
To get around this, employees who used marijuana only on a “limited” basis and whose jobs do not require that security clearance would be given an exemption from working without authorization.
The policy does not allow employees to use marijuana or even if they have used it more than once or twice a year. According to the Associated Press, “limited” use of marijuana means less than 15 times in the past year.
Authorization-exempt officials face additional rules and scrutiny, officials said. They must commit to stop using marijuana altogether while working for the government, agree to random drug tests, and can be directed to work from home until they meet the release standards.
Although the Biden administration has been more lenient than previous presidential administrations, the terminations have met with widespread criticism, particularly since marijuana has been legal in DC for more than five years. It remains illegal at the federal level.
Many local and national advocates of legalization are denouncing the White House’s actions.
Adam Eidinger, co-founder of DC Marijuana Justice, told BuzzFeed News that he found the layoffs “outrageous”, saying there is no evidence that employees who use marijuana in their spare time would affect job performance.
“You should only look at someone’s job performance to determine if they are qualified to work in a place – not if they have used marijuana in the past or are currently using it,” he said.
Disciplining employees because they used marijuana outside of working hours is a harmful and hypocritical precedent to be enforced, particularly for the country’s highest office, National Cannabis Industry Association spokesman Morgan Fox told BuzzFeed News.
“It is definitely sending the wrong message, not just to federal employers, but also to lawmakers and private sector employers across the country,” said Fox. “This kind of reinforces the false notion that cannabis is a detractor of someone’s ability to do difficult jobs with a lot of responsibility. ”
“Just look at the fact that three of the last five presidents have admitted to using cannabis in the past,” said Fox, “including Biden’s former boss.”