Simon Erskine Locke, Founder & CEO of CommunicationsMatch^TM 

Hey Joe. What are you doing? 

In the early daze of your administration, why are you focused on weeding out pot smokers?  

While we don’t want a purple haze in the White House – there are big decisions to make, on like Russia and China, the border, and, oh yeah, the virus – why all the attention to this smoldering issue?

We don’t know the details of who got to stay and who got fired. Did you get rid of certified pot heads? Fans of the Grateful Dead? We’d like to know what rules are being applied here. Yes, I know pot is illegal at a federal level, but you have bigger fish to fry.     

Although I have never smoked (or inhaled), I worry that if smoking weed were a disqualification for service in any administration, all that will be left are old (mostly) white guys (you know the type).  

Think about all those people who could not serve. Let’s start with Kamala. She smoked and inhaled. President Obama, likewise. And, of course, Bill Clinton, the I-played-saxophone-and-didn’t-inhale-president (hmmm). Imagine, we might have lost George Bush (the second) to national service (for the second time). There are some (in the pot community) who point out that the founding fathers may have also toked a joint – including George Washington! 

We want diversity of people and thinking over the next four years. What better way to ensure alternative perspectives. What was counterculture is now mainstream, pot shops are opening up across America, along with marijuana cultivation. These are new “green” deal jobs. Just because someone decided to sample the merchandise, doesn’t mean they should disappear or be ignored like a reeking cloud. 

Joe, the world has changed. It’s not the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s…we’re in the 2020s. It’s time for new thinking. The hippies are gone (they’re now “the establishment” or retired). We’re not in Vietnam (but still in Afghanistan). It’s not OK to jail people for smoking or selling small amounts of hash - forever. 

Is it OK to banish your pot smoking retinue? We are looking for new world leadership. Get with the times, man. Remember who your supporters are.

There’s clearly something more to this story. I’m clearly not high enough on the national security clearances list, but what I do know is demonizing those who smoke (when they’re off the clock) is not consistent with the freedoms for which all of those at Woodstock endured traffic, thunderstorms, and rolling around semi-naked in the mud.  

While I may not partake, it’s not my business to stop others doing so. Preventing people from serving who have smoked – whether they inhaled or not – at a time when America is trying to move forward is a relic from a past age.  

Hey, Joe, the times they are a-changin’. Please heed the call (or at least provide a better explanation of why, on this matter, they are not).

About the Author: Simon Erskine Locke is CEO of communications agency and professional search and services platform, CommunicationsMatch™. He is a regular contributor to CommPRO.biz and vice president of the Foreign Press Association. Search for Agencies, Professionals & Service providers.  Create a profile on CommunicationsMatch.