President Joe Biden’s White House reportedly has clamped down on staffers who admitted using marijuana in the past, even those from states where the drug has been legalized, with some being suspended or asked to resign, according to former staffers.
Although the Biden administration officially changed its marijuana guidelines to allow for “limited” use of the drug in the past, questions about past marijuana use were included on its background check form given to potential staffers. Some new hires reportedly were told that the White House would “overlook” anyone who answered yes, only to ask them to resign later.
“There were one-on-one calls with individual affected staffers — rather, ex-staffers,” one former staffer told The Daily Beast. “I was asked to resign.”
This staffer added “nothing was ever explained” on these calls, which White House Director of Management and Administration Anne Filipic led. “The policies were never explained, the threshold for what was excusable and what was inexcusable was never explained.”
Other staffers report being suspended or reassigned to remote work due to their past marijuana use.
