Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Biden White House Cracking Down on Staffers Over Past Marijuana Use

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.

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Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco Coalition Emerges to Shape Legalization in Their Favor

We’ve already seen the influence of these corporate interests. In some instances, many of these same people have lobbied against consumer-friendly legalization provisions, such as the right for adults to cultivate marijuana in the privacy of their homes. These corporate entities also have pushed for statewide limits on the number of licensed cannabis producers and retailers, in an effort to keep prices and supply artificially limited — and to keep the economic benefits of legalization largely out of the reach of average Americans, especially people of color.

That’s their vision of legalization. NORML’s vision of legalization includes the right to personal cultivation and mandates low barriers of entry to the cannabis market so that every American who wishes to benefit from legalization can do so. Our vision includes the mass expungement of criminal records and provides justice to those communities that have been historically most impacted by the failed drug war. Our vision of legalization stops the discrimination in the workplace against those who choose to consume cannabis in their off-hours. Our vision includes low taxes and ready access to those adults who wish to legally obtain affordable cannabis products in a safe, licensed, regulated environment.

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GOP Gov: ‘If You Legalize Marijuana You’re Going to Kill Your Kids’

Ricketts held a press conference this week to rail against a bill that would only make marijuana legal if it were recommended by a health care practitioner, come in oil form, pills, or tinctures. Additionally, the legislation would not make smoking marijuana, even in the privacy of a patient’s home, legal.

Ricketts said the legalization movement is “big industry” trying to skirt federal regulations at the state level.

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