Political affiliations and hopes aside, Joe Biden inherited a pandemic that wasn’t going well. The fever pitch of hospitalizations and deaths reached a new height and the vaccine delivery system limped along like a “runs-like-new” car on craigslist. From the office of president-elect, Biden said his newly minted administration would use “science and truth” to combat Covid, climate change, and “other challenges”. The vague generality of “other” doesn’t seem to include drug policy.
In a tweet on March 19, 2021, White House Press secretary Jen Psaki attempted to smooth the waters of hypocrisy, saying, “of the hundreds of people hired, only five people are no longer employed as a result of this policy”. For an administration claiming to be led by “science and truth”, this is five too many.
The White House offered no context in which the dismissals were made. Clearly, we can understand the difference between smoking a joint in the White House ( à la Willie Nelson) and using the substance on one’s own time. Keep in mind, cannabis is perfectly legal in Washington D.C. and in surrounding Maryland and Virginia— so, what’s the issue? Is it a fireable offense to consume cannabis in and of itself?
There are many issues with this. First and foremost is the blatant hypocrisy of issuing a statement about leading with science and following it up with actions that defy science, logic, and even common sense with regards to cannabis. Are White House staffers who drink subject to the same treatment? Why not? Alcohol is toxic and kills 90k Americans annually, while cannabis claims exactly ZERO. The White House requests of resignation set a precedent that it is acceptable to fire someone over legal substance use when it pertains to cannabis. The message this sends is dangerous. Essentially, those people were fired for making a safer choice. By any metric, cannabis is a better option than alcohol. No, it’s not “abstinence”, but neither is having a glass of wine to wind down after a stressful workday.
The Biden administration has signaled that they would like to move away from criminalizing drug use and adopting a more model of public health approach. This is absolutely counter to that idea. Additionally, the interim head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy is a lawyer. Lawyers and firings don’t seem science-driven. Instead, these firings feel like damage control for the U.S. government’s image— too little too late, as most American’s cut ties with nationalism after four years with a human Cheeto as president— in addition to a disappointing continuation of America’s hypocritical policies. Over his decade-long career in politics, President Biden has involved himself in many areas of the war on drugs and this new policy seems like the perfect homage to his influence on U.S. drug policy.
Want a reality check? Here are some things that are apparently fine at the White House: a valium prescription and a martini after work, ordering the right wine pairing with fish, meeting your buddies from college at a Georgetown bar and doing shots of tequila, joining a softball team, and drinking beer in the park after the game. Are any of those things offenses that merit being fired? Of course not, so why is using cannabis? Certainly, the Biden administration has their reasons but they have nothing to do with truth or science.