The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has agreed to rehire an agent fired in 2019 for testing positive for THC the agent says was due to his legal CBD use.
Anthony Armour joined the DEA in 2004. In 2019, after 15 years of service, Armour was fired after testing positive for a minute amount of THC during a random drug test.
Last year Armour filed a lawsuit against the agency with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Armour and his attorney claimed that the DEA had no legal standing to fire him given he was using a legal product (hemp, and hemp-derived CBD, was legalized nationwide in 2018, with products allowed to contain up to 0.3% THC).
Now, the agency has announced that it will be reinstating Armour, while providing him with years worth of back pay.
“I’m excited to be getting back to work at D.E.A.”, Anthony Armour, 49, told the New York Times. “I hope to finish my career at D.E.A. by helping its mission in taking dangerous drugs like fentanyl off the streets.”
The move comes as the DEA is currently considering whether or not it should reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, a move that would legalize the plant for prescription use across the United States while providing state-legal medical marijuana patients and businesses with a plethora of legal protections.
