The White House and the surrounding area were evacuated on Sunday as the Secret Service investigated an unknown substance found on the grounds that turned out to be cocaine, the authorities have confirmed.
The grounds were cleared “as a precaution” after the Secret Service’s Uniformed Division Officers spotted an “unknown item on the White House complex” at 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, a Secret Service spokesman told reporters on Sunday.
The Washington, DC Fire Department’s hazardous materials team was dispatched to evaluate the find, while the Secret Service closed down multiple streets in the area around the White House.
DC Emergency Medical Services soon deemed the substance “non-hazardous” and the streets were reopened. The mystery substance tested as “cocaine hydrochloride,” a recording from DC Fire and Hazmat tweeted by radio aggregator OpenMHz confirmed.
Cocaine is a Schedule II narcotic in the US, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and addiction and is illegal to possess without a doctor’s prescription. The Secret Service was reportedly still investigating the origins of the substance as of Sunday night.
Local authorities were said to be on high alert after an incident early Sunday morning in which several explosive devices and a “Molotov cocktail-style object” exploded outside three businesses in the city’s northeast. The suspect was still at large at the time of the cocaine discovery at the White House.
Social media users took the opportunity to poke fun at President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, whose struggles with drug addiction are well-documented and acknowledged by both father and son, noting he had recently attended a state dinner at the White House. No evidence has been produced connecting the discovery to Biden Junior, however.
Global cocaine production is at record levels, according to a report published earlier this year by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Record seizures of the drug have been recorded – in the largest-ever narco-submarine, on the high seas outside New Zealand, and in Belgian ports, where so much was intercepted it could not be destroyed using standard methods.
“U.S. Secret Service Uniform Division Officers located an unknown item on the White House complex,” a Secret Service spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“As a precaution, the White House grounds were evacuated, and the DC Fire Departments Hazmat team responded,” the spokesperson added.
DC Fire Hazmat officials tested the substance, and it reportedly came back positive for Cocaine Hydrochloride.
🚨#BREAKING: The Secret Service are investigating a hazmat incident at the White House
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) July 3, 2023
⁰📌#Washington | #DC
Currently, there is an ongoing hazmat incident at the White House in Washington DC the US Secret Service, along with emergency personnel, are investigating the… pic.twitter.com/sRuktZwsOg
“US Secret Service have just shut down access to the Ellipse, Lafayette Park, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue due to an unknown security incident,” said freelance DC journalist Andrew Leyden.
US Secret Service have just shut down access to the Ellipse, Lafayette Park, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue due to an unknown security incident. pic.twitter.com/bbrt6Ym609
— Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) July 2, 2023
“DC Fire Hazmat reports they have found a substance that tests positive for Cocaine Hydrochloride near the White House, which is a local anesthetic,” he added.
HAZMAT crews behind the gates on West Executive outside the entrance to the West Wing. pic.twitter.com/rqDRCjZVvi
— Andrew Leyden (@PenguinSix) July 3, 2023
PubChem writes about Cocaine Hydrochloride:
Cocaine Hydrochloride is the hydrochloride salt form of the tropane alkaloid cocaine, with central nervous systems (CNS) stimulating and local anesthetic activity. Cocaine binds to the dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine transport proteins and inhibits the re-uptake of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine into pre-synaptic neurons. This leads to an accumulation of the respective neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft and may result in increased postsynaptic receptor activation. Its effect on dopamine levels causes CNS stimulation and euphoria, and ultimately dependence. The mechanism of action through which cocaine exerts its local anesthetic effects is by binding to and blocking the voltage-gated sodium channels in the neuronal cell membrane. By stabilizing neuronal membranes, cocaine inhibits the initiation and conduction of nerve impulses and produces a reversible loss of sensation.
An alkaloid ester extracted from the leaves of plants including coca. It is a local anesthetic and vasoconstrictor and is clinically used for that purpose, particularly in the eye, ear, nose, and throat. It also has powerful central nervous system effects similar to the amphetamines and is a drug of abuse. Cocaine, like amphetamines, acts by multiple mechanisms on brain catecholaminergic neurons; the mechanism of its reinforcing effects is thought to involve inhibition of dopamine uptake.
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