The Biden government said on Friday it had fired five White House officials over marijuana use while trying to balance federal law and hiring guidelines with drug legalization in several states.
“We announced a few weeks ago that the White House had worked with the security service to update policies to ensure that previous marijuana use did not automatically disqualify employees from serving in the White House,” tweeted White House press secretary Jen Psaki , linking to an initial NBC News report on policy changes. “As a result, more people will serve that they would not have had 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 started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy,” she wrote.
Several others with a history of cannabis use are working remotely while undergoing suitability reviews, the White House acknowledged.
Psaki’s statement came after a Daily Beast report citing three people familiar with the situation said dozens of White House officials had been suspended, asked to resign or placed on a remote work program because of previous marijuana use.
The figures provided by the White House indicate that the problem is not so widespread, but it also shows the difficulty of trying to navigate conflicting laws and regulations regarding previous marijuana use.
NBC News first reported on the White House’s efforts to resolve the problem last month, when the government issued new hiring guidelines aimed at reducing the divide between the state and the federal.
After what an officer described as “intensive consultation with security officers” and the personnel security division, the White House said it would, on a case-by-case basis, waive the requirement that potential nominees in the President’s Executive Office be eligible for top secret release. .
The authorities said an exemption would only be granted to those who used marijuana in a “limited” manner and who are in positions that ultimately do not require a security clearance.
Granted waivers must agree to cease all marijuana use for the full length of their government service and agree to random drug tests. These employees would also be required to work remotely for an unspecified period after their last recognized use of marijuana, although many employees have worked remotely because of coronavirus restrictions anyway.
A White House official told NBC News last month that the new guidelines would “effectively protect our national security, while modernizing policies to ensure that talented and well-qualified candidates with limited marijuana use are not prevented from serving. to the American people ”.
The White House on Friday did not specify how many waivers have been granted so far. There are about 500 jobs at the White House in total, although most of these employees actually work in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Psaki said the White House “worked in coordination with the security service to ensure that more people have the opportunity to serve than they would in the past with the same level of recent drug use. Although we don’t go into individual cases, there were factors at stake in many cases for the small number of individuals who have been laid off. ”
Congressman Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who co-chairs Congress’s Cannabis Caucus, said in a statement: “What is happening now is a vivid illustration of unrealistic, unfair and inaccessible policies for marijuana. There is confusion across the country because of outdated laws and the fact that the American public is not waiting for the federal government to start acting together. “
He said he hoped the government would find “a way forward that is fair and realistic”.
Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, said the White House’s actions are sending “the wrong message to federal personnel managers, as well as to lawmakers and employers across the country.”
“Three of the last five presidents – including the former chief of the current president – have admitted to using cannabis,” said Smith. “The idea that previous use would render a person unfit for service at the White House or ineligible for a security clearance is laughable.”
The White House made it clear that the use of drugs other than cannabis, or the more extensive use of cannabis, would not meet the criteria for obtaining an exemption.
In most cases where individuals are no longer employed at the White House, additional safety factors were at stake, including previous use of hard drugs, said a source familiar with the matter. Misrepresenting the drug history on White House paperwork or interviewing security personnel could be a factor that would lead someone to be considered unfit for a security clearance.
Alicia Victoria Lozano contributed.