Former Bayonne Police Officer, Mayor Jimmy Davis, has announced his support for a ban on marijuana usage by police officers. Davis says he will work with the city’s Law Department to craft a directive to that effect. Mayor Davis’ announcement comes after Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop announced that officers in the Jersey City Police Department will be prohibited from using marijuana, citing federal law and the need to protect police-community relationships.
“As a retired police officer myself, I know that sworn law enforcement officers must be held to a higher standard and I believe that allowing marijuana use by off-duty personnel would lead to lawsuits that would endanger both taxpayers and public safety by making it harder to win criminal convictions,” said Mayor Davis. “Current testing methods cannot determine when someone was under the influence of marijuana, making it impossible for police officers to prove that their use occured when off duty. This is an unnecessary complication to an already difficult job and I would support a legislative solution to close this loophole and make it 100% clear that as long as marijuana remains classified by the federal government as an illegal drug, we cannot have police officers using it.”