Biden Fired Staffers For Past Marijuana Use. Of Course.
Given the President’s history, we shouldn’t be surprised.
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Over Biden’s decades long career in national politics, it’s no secret has not been friendly to the idea of recreational drug use. Recently, we were reminded of the archaic stance that the author of the infamous 1994 crime bill and war on drugs architect evidently still has, after CNN reported that five White House staffers were asked to resign and others to work remotely because past marijuana use turned up in their background checks.
Considering the fact that one of the chief problems with his 1994 crime bill was that it imposed mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana possession, can we really be surprised?
The platform of the Democratic party calls for the decriminalization and rescheduling of marijuana, and for good reason. More than 500,000 people are arrested for marijuana use every single year. Yet Joe Biden is still using it as an excuse to fire his staffers. But as Natalie Fertig and Mona Zhang with Politico pointed out, even while states all across the country and the Democratic party overall has warmed to the idea of the legalization of weed on the federal level, Biden never did. Instead of focusing his energy on ending the drug war and reinvesting in the communities that have been decimated by the policies that he shepherded into law, Biden has instead decided to terminate the employment of his staffers for past marijuana use who are currently working in a city where marijuana use is legal.
Kamala Harris herself has admitted to smoking weed.
So has none other than former President Barack Obama.
Imagine, just for a moment, if it was Donald Trump or Tom Cotton in office right now, and it was reported that they were firing staffers for smoking weed in the past. Now loyal democratic voter would approve of that. None of them would be attempting to justify it. They would not be downplaying the issue, and arguing that it must simply be because of some other underlying issue that came along with it. Instead, liberals would be incensed, arguing that it shows just how out of touch they are with the current times. They would almost certainly point out the number of lives that have been destroyed because of the country’s archaic stance on the use of marijuana, and argued that Donald Trump or whoever the Republican lawmaker might be is perpetuating that pain.
Expecting our lawmakers to recognize that times have changed does not end with the Republican party. At a time when I’m sure tens of millions of people were hopeful that granting Democrats unilateral control of the government would bring about the possibility of marijuana legalization, Biden has instead chosen to make an example out of a few of his employees, putting his outdated, nonsensical beliefs about the drug on full display. If we wouldn’t accept this type of nonsense from a Republican lawmaker, why should we accept if from Joe Biden?
