A preliminary test showed that suspicious white powder found at the White House over the weekend was as cocaine, news agency the Associated Press reported. Citing two law enforcement officials, the report claimed that the substance was found in a common area of the West Wing on Sunday while US President Joe Biden was at Camp David.

Secret Service agents found the white powder while doing routine rounds on Sunday. Sources told the Washington Post that the amount of the substance was small. Moreover, the area where it was found is accessible to tour groups, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It was reportedly a reference library, the Guardian said.

The presence of the substance came to light late on Monday when a firefighter with the Washington DC fire department team informed, "We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride," the Washington Post first reported.

The incident led to a security alert and the White House complex was briefly evacuated around 8:45 pm Sunday as fire and emergency crews were brought in to do a rapid test, which preliminarily identified cocaine.

The Secret Service said in a statement the White House was closed as a precaution as emergency crews investigated, and that the District of Columbia fire department was called in to evaluate and determine that the substance was not hazardous.

The White House was soon reopened and the powder was sent for further testing.

The substance has now been sent out for further testing. The Secret Service added, "The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending."

All this happened when Biden and his family left for Camp David on Friday. They returned from the presidential retreat in Maryland to the White House on Tuesday.

History of illicit drug use at the White House

According to reports, this would not be the first time illegal drugs were used in the White House. Rapper Snoop Dogg said earlier he had smoked weed in a bathroom in 2013, and Willie Nelson confessed to smoking a joint on the White House roof during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, the Guardian reported.

Besides, rumour has that British actor Erkan Mustafa smoked marijuana in the Reagan White House and did a line of cocaine on a visit to the White House during first lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drugs campaign.

Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick said in 2011 she’d tried and failed to spike President Richard Nixon’s tea with LSD in 1970.

According to the Washington Post, there's a tabloid rumour that John F Kennedy smoked pot with Mary Pinchot Meyer in the White House bedroom.

(With inputs from agencies)

First Published:Jul 5, 2023 10:00 AM IST