Due in large part to the sheer lack of facts around it, the White House drug controversy appeared to be dying down just as another one has emerged to take its place.
At least nine months before the current cocaine scandal that has rocked the Biden White House, a sensational new revelation from Fox News claims that marijuana was twice discovered in the White House in 2022.
Members of Congress received a classified briefing from the Secret Service over the Fourth of July weekend that corroborated this knowledge.
It’s important to note that marijuana use in Washington, D.C. is permitted for both medical and recreational purposes.
In actuality, the following activities are all acceptable for a person under the age of 21 according to the Metropolitan Police:
- Possess two ounces or less of marijuana
- Transfer an ounce of marijuana or less to another 21-year-old, as long as there is no monetary transaction
- Grow their marijuana plants (with restrictions)
- Possess marijuana-related drug paraphernalia
- Use marijuana on private property
Given that, it stands to reason that finding a small amount of marijuana inside the White House wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy.
However, there are still some limitations on marijuana usage in D.C. (you can’t sell marijuana, you can’t handle heavy machinery while high, etc.), and this recent incident violates at least one of those limitations.
As D.C.’s ACLU branch noted:
“Federal law enforcement officers still may arrest anyone in the District for possession of any amount of marijuana. You still cannot have marijuana on federal land (which includes Rock Creek Park, the National Mall, and area around federal buildings) or on the Metro system.”
As far as federal structures go, our country’s symbolic center tops the list.
Agents have discovered “small amounts of marijuana” in both July and September of 2022, a Secret Service official told Fox News.
However, it doesn’t seem like much will come of this latest disclosure, much like the continuing cocaine controversy.
“No one was arrested in these incidents, because the weight of the marijuana confiscated did not meet the legal threshold for federal charges or D.C. misdemeanor criminal charges, as the District of Columbia had decriminalized possession,” the representative told Fox.
Given the precise language used by the ACLU to argue that marijuana is still not permitted in federal buildings, despite the fact that the White House unambiguously allows it, that discrepancy seems puzzling.
“The marijuana was collected by officers and destroyed,” the representative added.
These scandals are just making the incumbent president’s already challenging reelection campaign worse.
This is being seized upon by some of Biden’s most ardent political adversaries, ranging from general Republican dissatisfaction and disgust with the entire scenario to former President Donald Trump outright speculating as to whether the current president was “on cocaine.”
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