WASHINGTON - In February, the Biden administration signaled that past marijuana use would not necessarily disqualify a person from employment by relaxing longstanding policies that have barred some past users of the drug from working in the White House.

The change was seen as a way to open the door for younger talent from parts of the country where marijuana has been legalized, but it took only a few weeks for the new guidelines to be publicly tested.

On Friday, responding to a news report in The Daily Beast that said dozens of young staff members had been pushed to resign or had been reassigned to remote work based on their past marijuana use, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, confirmed that some employees had been sidelined but said that it applied to fewer people.

[continues 903 words]

WASHINGTON - American officials have been quietly raising questions about whether Canada's marijuana legalization might slow traffic at the border, and are being told by their northern neighbours there's no reason that should happen.

The issue has come up in phone calls between high-level officials and again in passing this week during a first face-toface encounter between Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and his U.S. counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

It hasn't been contentious, he said. "The only thing they say is, 'Will this cause lineups?'" Goodale said in an interview.

[continues 313 words]

Arash Shirazi is a pretty cosmopolitan guy. A music agent and filmmaker, he hangs out with creative types and bohemians. He's lived in L.A., and spent time in cities such as, yes, Amsterdam, so it's fair to say that he's not particularly prudish in his social life.

And yet - leaving a Washington parking lot recently, he took pause when a distinctively skunky scent passed under his nostrils.

Of course he'd smelled marijuana before. But this was a weekday afternoon - in Georgetown!

[continues 1191 words]

[photo] Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County) (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

The Maryland General Assembly has hired outside counsel to aid its ethics investigation of a state lawmaker who championed medical marijuana while having a business relationship with a prospective dispensary, a spokesman for the Senate president confirmed Friday.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) said on the floor of the legislative body that the ethics committee had recently tapped an outside lawyer to help on a matter.

[continues 386 words]