US: White House fires 5 employees over drug use

The White House said on Friday it has fired five employees over drug use, even after announcing a more lenient policy toward past use of the drug a few weeks ago.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki posted a tweet confirming the five removals after the Daily Beast reported that dozens of staffers had been suspended, asked to resign, or placed in a remote work program due to past drug use.

“We announced a few weeks ago that the White House had worked with the security service to update the policies to ensure that past marijuana use wouldn’t automatically disqualify staff from serving in the White House,” Psaki tweeted.

We announced a few weeks ago that the White House had worked with the security service to update the policies to ensure that past marijuana use wouldn’t automatically disqualify staff from serving in the White House. (https://t.co/DG3YuqejtZ)

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 19, 2021

“The bottom line is this: of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy,” she added in a subsequent post.