The White House’s medical unit has a history of doling out prescription and non-prescription drugs and even controlled substances without maintaining records, revealing a pharmacy operation that occasionally provided the drugs to “ineligible White House staff,” a recent U.S. Department of Defense report found.
The bombshell, which was revealed in a January report, detailed increased incidents of negligent operations by the White House Medical Unit during Donald Trump’s presidency but also mentioned some issues during Barack Obama’s tenure.
A former official described a Trump White House “awash with speed” and Xanax, with staffers routinely ingesting stimulants during late working sessions, according to several news reports.
The anti-anxiety medication Xanax was also a popular, easily accessible drug during the Trump administration and other prescription drugs were distributed, Rolling Stone reported. In fact, two people with direct knowledge of the situation recalled senior officials getting Xanax from the medical unit and sharing it with colleagues.
“It was kind of like the Wild West. Things were pretty loose. Whatever someone needs, we were going to fill this,” one source told Rolling Stone.
Meanwhile, the federal investigation revealed the White House Medical Unit’s pharmacy operations had “severe and systemic problems” due to the unit’s failure to ensure pharmacy safety standards, Inspector General Robert P. Storch said in a press release.
The investigation was prompted by complaints to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, citing issues like inadequate record-keeping and the overuse of brand-name medications instead of more cost-effective generic drugs. The unit made significant orders of drugs such as fentanyl, morphine, and ketamine.
In 2018, the Department of Defense received complaints about a senior military medical officer at the White House Medical Unit engaging in improper…
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