Weed Use By Off-Duty NJ Cops OK'd After Challenges

NEW JERSEY — The New Jersey Civil Service Commission and administrative judges have confirmed that police officers can use recreational cannabis when they are off-duty, amid a fight by one mayor to keep cannabis users off the police force.

It is the third ruling this summer that supports the reinstatement cases of two fired Jersey City cops, who were among four terminated from the department after testing positive for marijuana, as the Jersey City Times reported.

Days before select New Jersey dispensaries became allowed to sell recreational weed last August, Attorney General Matt Platkin sent a memo to law enforcement agencies saying that under state laws, police can consume cannabis off-duty as well, as long as they're sober on the job.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who is planning to run for governor in 2025, was among several municipal leaders who opposed letting off-duty officers consume cannabis. Jersey City issued its own directive to its nearly 1,000 police officers that consuming weed will result in them being fired.

"NJ’s policies allowing law enforcement to smoke is an outlier nationally and one that will put our officers + community at risk with impaired judgment," Fulop tweeted. "Unlike alcohol where there are tests + timelines that can create clear protection between consumption + duty, w/marijuana that doesn’t exist."

The four officers have been fighting for their reinstatement since being terminated from the Jersey City Police Department, and the city said they failed to follow the department’s directive not to use cannabis at all, per the Jersey City Times.

City officials claimed that federal law supersedes the CREAMM (Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization) Act, which regulates cannabis use in the state.

Jersey City is one of a few police departments that requires its officers to purchase their own guns, and city officials claim that federal law prevents them from legally owning a gun because of cannabis use, a report by the Jersey City Times said.

However, recent rulings by administrative law judges and the Civil Service Commission have sided with fired officers Norhan Mansour and Omar Polanco, saying they should both be reinstated with back pay.

The CREAMM Act “precludes employers from terminating their employees solely due to the presence of cannabinoid metabolites in the employee’s system," wrote Administrative Law Judge Kimberly A. Moss in a June decision supporting Mansour's claim for reinstatement.

The state Civil Service Commission also granted Mansour's appeal in a decision Aug. 2. And last week, Administrative Law Judge Joann Lasala Candido ordered Polanco reinstated, per the Jersey City Times.

Federal law "does not preempt the CREAMM Act as it applies to police officers in New Jersey," Candido wrote.

Fulop vowed he will appeal the decisions, according to NJ Advance Media.

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• Most Off-Duty Cops Can Smoke Weed In NJ, But Maybe Not For Long