A video posted to X this week purports to show a man smoking on a Metrorail Red Line train a substance that the video poster claimed was meth.
The viral clip from @IamTerik has now been viewed at least 14,800 times — including by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
In a response to the video, the WMATA X account asked the original poster of the clip the train on which the incident took place.
“Terik” said that the smoking took place on a Red Line train going to Shady Grove, and that the person shown in the clip got off at Gallery Place. WMATA then responded that Metro Transit Police had been notified about the incident.
@IamTerik also posted, as part of the same thread, a separate video showing someone smoking an unspecified substance on a Metrobus. That bus was on the T18 line, according to Washington area Fox affiliate WTTG-TV, channel 5.
As of the end of August, Metro Transit Police had made 198 arrests relating to drugs and narcotics, with 25 arrests in August. There had been 75 such arrests at the same point in 2022, with 13 drug arrests made by the department in August 2022.
“MTPD is aware of two videos that are circulating on social media, showing two separate customers utilizing what appears to be drugs on board our system. In both cases, MTPD was alerted immediately. Unfortunately, we have societal issues in our community that spill into Metro and are working proactively to address them,” WMATA said in a statement to WTTG.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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