Federal Judge Says He Won’t Rule On Whether Jersey City Police Can Use Marijuana Off Duty

“The court declines jurisdiction, stays this matter, and makes no findings as to the relief sought.”

By Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor

A federal judge won’t decide whether New Jersey police officers can consume cannabis off duty until after a series of state legal battles reach their conclusion—if he rules on the matter at all.

Judge Julien Xavier Neals on Friday declined Jersey City’s request to declare that federal gun law barring drug users from owning firearms preempts state law that allows police officers to ingest marijuana. Neals cited a raft of ongoing proceedings in state courts and before the Civil Service Commission on this issue.

“In carefully reviewing the pending parallel proceedings, as well as the relevant factors that overwhelmingly weigh against exercising jurisdiction, the court declines jurisdiction, stays this matter, and makes no findings as to the relief sought,” the judge wrote in a brief opinion released Friday.

The question at the heart of the case has spurred conflict in Jersey City since the state’s recreational marijuana legislation took effect in early 2022.

That law, which stood up the state’s legal cannabis market after voters overwhelmingly backed a legalization constitutional amendment at the polls in 2020, largely bars discipline for workers who use legally purchased cannabis outside of the workplace.

Attorney General Matt Platkin in an April 13, 2022, memo said that provision covers police officers, adding they could still be terminated for on-duty use or for using marijuana purchased on the underground market. When Platkin issued that memo, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop declared his city would not allow its officers to use cannabis at all. Fulop is seeking the Democratic nod for governor next year.

Federal law bars users of certain drugs from obtaining firearms, and marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. The city has argued those statutes bar police from consuming cannabis off duty, though a separate section of the federal code exempts guns “imported for, sold or shipped to, or issued for the use of” governmental agencies from the prohibition absent convictions for domestic violence.

It’s not clear whether that provision applies to Jersey City, where police officers are required to purchase their own firearms.

At least five police officers have cases before state courts or administrative agencies challenging dismissals for off-duty marijuana use, and New Jersey’s Civil Service Commission has so far moved to reinstate officers fired for the same. Jersey City has said it will not put them back to work armed.

Attorneys for the state—defendants in the lawsuit—argued Jersey City sued in federal court as a way of shopping for a friendlier forum after facing defeats in state court and before the Civil Service Commission.

Neals’s opinion does not definitely end the federal suit. Though the judge declined to exercise jurisdiction over the dispute Friday, his ruling allows Jersey City to move to reopen the case within 60 days of his order or the resolution of the ongoing state proceedings, whichever is later.

This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor.

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