Yo, check it out, fam! The Justice Department got the Drug Enforcement Administration’s back when it comes to firing one of their “distinguished” special agents. This dude, Anthony Armour, got the boot after testing positive for THC when he used some CBD for pain relief. Homeboy thought it was all good because it was legal hemp and whatnot.
In May, my man Anthony decided to take the DEA to court, tryna overturn his termination. He had a bunch of reasons, like saying there ain’t enough “substantial evidence” that he used an illegal substance and mentioning his stellar professional history.
But yo, the DEA ain’t buyin’ it. They think Anthony’s arguments are weak and tryin’ to get the court to ignore federal drug policies and review the evidence in a different way.
The DEA lawyers straight-up said, “Yo, Anthony was a commendable DEA agent who took a risk back in 2019. He believed that CBD products wouldn’t make him test positive for weed. But even though he knew there was a chance, he still went ahead and bought those unregulated items online and used ’em.”
Anthony himself admits that he messed up big time. He knows the DEA was right to hold him accountable for testin’ positive for drugs. They lost trust in him and decided to give him the boot.
The filing from the DEA said, “It sucks that it had to end this way after such a long and successful career in law enforcement. But yo, the DEA’s job is to enforce drug laws, and federal employees gotta be responsible for what they put in their bodies. There’s a clear connection between gettin’ fired for using illegal drugs and keepin’ a drug enforcement agency efficient.”
The DEA argued that even though Anthony didn’t mean to consume an illegal substance, he knew that CBD products had at least some THC in ’em. So they say he was “reckless” and deserved to get fired.
Now here’s the kicker, my peeps. The government brought up this executive order from the Reagan era that defines an “illegal drug” as any narcotic that ain’t prescribed and is on Schedule I or Schedule II. So, if they move weed from Schedule I to Schedule III, like the Department of Health and Human Services is suggesting, lawyers wonder if employees like Anthony would still get in trouble for using it.
The new filing said, “It ain’t surprising that the DEA thinks it’s a big deal for an employee to use illegal drugs, no matter their intent. Whether you did it on purpose, knew about it, did it recklessly, or even accidentally, it’s all bad. Anthony’s arguments make it seem like he didn’t mean to do anything wrong, but he did.”
They also mentioned that Anthony had been workin’ for the DEA for 16 years, got great performance ratings for three years straight, and even had letters of support from his bosses and coworkers.
But yo, none of that changed the DEA’s mind. They said those things might help a lil’ bit, but not enough to reduce the punishment they dished out.
Now let’s talk about the DEA and their mixed-up priorities. This lawyer named Matt Zorn, who’s representin’ Anthony, said that the DEA and its big boss wanna focus on fightin’ the opioid crisis.
He said, “Why they gotta be in court defendin’ themselves over firin’ a special agent who was only tryna get rid of dangerous drugs from our streets? He only used CBD oil to manage his pain ’cause he didn’t wanna mess with opioids. But homie didn’t know that the CBD oil he used had some THC in it.”
Since they kicked Anthony out in 2020, the DEA made it clear that their agents can’t use CBD, ’cause they’re worried about labeling mistakes and accidentally gettin’ high from THC. They even changed their rules for job applicants in 2021, so now they only ask about hemp and CBD use before it became legal in 2018.
But check it, the DEA ain’t messin’ around. They’re gettin’ ready to make a bunch of new weed rules after hemp became legal. They wanna make sure synthetic cannabinoids are illegal, but they might also let synthetic CBD with 0.1% THC slide.
But yo, the DEA is under a lotta pressure ’cause President Joe Biden started this review of weed’s classification last year. The Department of Health and Human Services did their own investigation and said weed should be Schedule III instead of Schedule I. Now the DEA gotta do their own assessment and make the final call.
For now, though, the response from the DEA in Anthony’s case shows that they’re all about stickin’ to the rules that say weed is Schedule I.
So here’s the deal, my peeps. The DEA fired Special Agent Anthony Armour ’cause he used CBD as an alternative to opioids, and now there’s a legal battle goin’ on. It’s all about how federal drug policies clash with what individuals do. While Anthony and his lawyer say there ain’t enough evidence to fire him, the DEA is standin’ firm on their decision to enforce drug laws. This case also brings up questions about what the DEA really cares about, since they’re focused on opioids but also fightin’ in court over CBD use. They’re even usin’ an executive order from back in Reagan’s time to define illegal drugs and arguin’ over how to schedule weed. This whole situation shows that there’s a whole lot of legal and policy debates goin’ on ’bout CBD, weed, and drug enforcement in the U.S., my dudes.