TRENTON – Police, like anyone else in New Jersey, can now smoke weed while they’re not working. So far, local law enforcement officials have been silent on the subject.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin reportedly sent a memo in April to police chiefs, which said law enforcement officers should not be subject to discipline for smoking weed off duty.
The Herald reached out to eight local police chiefs to try to get their take on the memo, but most didn’t respond to the inquiries.
North Wildwood Police Chief John Stevenson said in an email, “I am not looking to make a statement on this at this time, but I was told by the Cape May County Chiefs of Police Association that (Cape May County) Prosecutor (Jeffrey) Sutherland was going to make a statement regarding this.”
Ocean City Police Chief Jay Prettyman and Lower Township Police Chief Kevin Lewis both declined to comment and directed the Herald to contact Sutherland, as well.
Sutherland, the county’s top law enforcement official, did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Herald about the subject.
Unlike a breathalyzer to determine alcohol intoxication, there is not a reliable test to tell if a person is high and when the last time they consumed marijuana was. In a urine or blood test, a person can test positive for marijuana weeks after they last consumed it.
This will likely cause difficulty in DWI enforcement, where it will be tough to determine if a driver is currently high. Even though portable breathalyzer results are not admissible in court, they are an important tool police use roadside to determine if they need to make an arrest.
However, the breathalyzer is also one less tool at a department’s disposal if they suspect an officer may be intoxicated at work.
Blood alcohol results have been key in past cases when disciplining and charging officers drunk and on-duty. If they had done the same thing stoned, it would be a much harder case to prove, and they could beat it and stay on the force.
This has led one New Jersey mayor, Steve Fulop, of Jersey City, to say there should be a higher standard for law enforcement, and officers will not be able to consume marijuana, period, and will be fired if they do so.
Bayonne, another city just outside Manhattan, will also prohibit its officers from smoking and the mayor there, Jimmy Davis, a former cop, said allowing officers to smoke at all will cause problems getting convictions at trials where they appear as witnesses and open the city up to litigation.
Off-duty officers also frequently carry firearms and in New Jersey, there is no statewide law prohibiting them from doing so while drinking. Presumably, the same would be true of marijuana. While marijuana may not lead as frequently to the volatilesituations alcohol does, it does have an impact on one’s body and mind in a way that could make handling a firearm inappropriate.
A push was made in 2016 by the family of Michael Gaffney for a law prohibiting drinking officers from carrying guns, but so far, those efforts have not resulted in any change. Gaffney, who was unarmed, was shot when a bar fight with an off-duty officer turned deadly after the officer used his service weapon.
On the other hand, marijuana can be a useful therapy for some of the extreme stresses a job as a cop brings that does not carry a hangover or some of the negative health effects of alcohol consumption. It can also treat physical ailments, like muscle spasms, reduce inflammation and lower blood pressure.
Most police officers can undoubtedly be trusted to use it appropriately and perhaps it will even serve as a benefit to them. The potential problems lie with the difficulties deciphering when and if it’s influencing someone.
Perhaps local officials’ silence on the issue means there is something brewing behind the scenes, but for now, there is little to go on to determine how these changes to the marijuana law have impacted things locally.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
