President Donald Trump is “tired of” marijuana and alcohol being consumed in public, a federal agent told a group of people sitting on a porch in Washington, D.C. in a video that was highlighted by Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver.
As the National Guard and multiple federal agencies—including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—take part in the federalization of law enforcement in the District of Columbia, there was one interaction over the weekend that caught national attention.
In the clip featured on Oliver’s HBO show Last Week Tonight, an agent approached a group, apparently on suspicion that they were publicly using cannabis outside their residence.
“We’re doing checks, keeping everybody safe down here,” the agent said, asking if they had “heard of the federal surge that Donald Trump’s putting out.”
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He was referencing an executive action that activated the National Guard and other agencies to participate in policing in the nation’s Capitol, with the aim of tackling violent crime. Local officials have disputed the justification for the “surge,” pointing to lower-than-average crime rates in D.C. in recent years.
But as federal agents swept the streets of D.C.—which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday resulted in 465 arrests over about two weeks—questions are being raised about the nature of the crimes those officers were targeting.
Oliver said that “the purest expression” of the disconnect was “this cringe-inducing encounter where a group of agents approach a man they mistakenly think is smoking marijuana on his back porch, which, by the way, is completely legal in D.C.”
(For the record, possession of limited amounts of marijuana by adults is legal in the District under a voter-approved law—but public consumption is prohibited.)
In any case, the apparent involvement of federal officers in alleged low-level marijuana cases is notable.
“Trump’s got all federal agencies kind of coming together over seven days and going out, trying to stop the violent crime and all kind of stuff,” the agent says in the recording.
“So just know, right? Learn. Tell your boys like, ‘Yo, everybody’s out, [including] FBI.’ So do your thing. Let them know,” he said. “Don’t be smoking outside. Don’t be drinking outside. Because Donald Trump is tired of it.”
There was another video shared on TikTok over the weekend that showed a content creator jogging through D.C., where he said at one point that he witnessed local police along with federal CBP agents arresting a man over public cannabis consumption.
@r.oh.bee Some of the sights and sounds from DC last night now that National Guard is deployed and DC Police is federalized… Lots of super weird vibes all around. People are really uncomfortable with all of this policing. I watched people get stopped on the street for smoking, I watched homeless encampments be met with federal agents asking people to find a place to stay for the night. Again, all under the guise of “putting an end to violent crime.” I received tons of messages in support yesterday and I want to say thanks again! I had over 300 DMs from people who appreciate an update on what everything actually looks like in DC. It just goes to show how much people care. One DM that stuck out was how now is not the time to be silent and I took that one and used it as my motivation to go and see everything and share whatever I could share. I really wish these weren’t the types of videos that I was making right now but it needs to be done. I rather be on a silly 8 mile run through beautiful DC but instead I did 8 miles bouncing around to all of the places with police presence. Stay safe friends!
The creator told Marijuana Moment that the person was ultimately released, but it’s unclear if they were cited.
Asked for comment on recent claims of federal involvement in cannabis-related arrests, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) referred Marijuana Moment to the city government, which did not respond by the time of publication. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.
In any case, the White House-initiated presence of federal agents in a jurisdiction that has legalized cannabis creates unusual tension with respect to marijuana laws and state/local autonomy.
This also comes amid heightened expectations about a potential decision on a pending proposal to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Trump announced last week that an announcement on that matter is coming soon.
The president previously endorsed rescheduling on the campaign trail ahead of his second term, but he was less clear about his position last week—and influencers in MAGA circles have given mixed feedback on what outcome they want to see.
When he announced an imminent decision on the reclassification of cannabis, Trump said we’re “only looking at that” and it’s too “early” to say how the issue will be decided, adding that “it’s a very complicated subject.”
“Some people like it. Some people hate it—people hate the whole concept of marijuana, because it does bad for the children [and] it does bad for people that are older than children,” the president said. “But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next few weeks—and that determination, hopefully, will be the right one.”
With respect to D.C., Trump and prior administrations across the aisle have repeatedly proposed budgets that maintain a rider preventing the District from using local tax dollars to create a system of regulated, commercial marijuana sales despite the voter-approved law legalizing possession and home cultivation.
Meanwhile, anti-marijuana organizations recently narced on several locally licensed cannabis businesses in D.C.—sending a letter to Trump, the U.S. attorney general and a federal prosecutor that identifies dispensaries they allege are too close to schools despite approval from District of Columbia officials.
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
