Insider by John L. Dorman 3/20/2021
• Several Democrats are criticizing the Biden White House over their marijuana policy for staffers.
• Staffers were asked to resign or told to work remotely due to their drug use, per The Daily Beast.
• White House press secretary Jen Psaki says the policy only affected a small number of staffers.
Several leading Democrats are criticizing a White House policy that has disqualified or and sidelined staffers for past marijuana use, as first reported by The Daily Beast on Friday.
Sources told The Daily Beast that dozens of young staffers under were suspended, asked to resign, or told to work remotely after informing the White House that they had smoked marijuana recreationally — a marked reversal from President Joe Biden administration's stance of allowing recreational cannabis smokers to apply for open roles.
The rebuke from members of the president's own party represents a major policy rift just days after the successful passage of the Democratic-backed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California on Friday shared his displeasure over the policy with The Daily Beast, highlighting that medical cannabis was now the law of the land in most states and Washington DC and expressing that the country had "evolved beyond [former US Attorney General] Jeff Sessions' reefer madness hysteria."
More:
https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-white-house-staff-marijuana-policy-criticism-democrats-2021-3
