A union representing firefighters is claiming credit for a New York City legal directive ordering government agencies, including the New York City Fire Department (NYFD) and New York Police Department (NYPD) to cease drug testing workers for marijuana.<\/p>\n
In a memo distributed to members on Thursday, the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) referenced a leaked document from NYPD<\/a> that discussed how a review of statute by the New York City Law Department (NYCLD) led to a determination that it is unlawful for agencies to conduct pre-employment, random and scheduled screenings for THC.<\/p>\n UFA said that it believes the directive is the product of the union\u2019s inquiries to the city about drug testing policy in light of New York\u2019s marijuana legalization law.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/EOQH9ktyGa<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) July 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n NYPD initially released a statement summarizing the legal opinion and signaling that it would be implementing a change to its cannabis testing policy, accordingly. But in a follow-up statement hours later, the department said no changes have yet been made and it would be consulting with the city about potential federal conflicts resulting from the directive.<\/p>\n NYFD, meanwhile, sent out its own memo to its branches, stating that there will be a policy change in light of the city\u2019s legal analysis, but guidance won\u2019t be made available for another two weeks. In the interim, the union is urging members to \u201cwait until the Department announced the official changes before considering any legal recreational or medicinal marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n Both NYPD and NYFD also emphasized that they would continue to drug test workers who are suspected of being intoxicated on the job.<\/p>\n These developments come more than a year after\u00a0NYPD issued updated guidance to officers<\/a>, notifying them that because cannabis was legalized for adult use, they are no longer able arrest adults 21 and older for simply using marijuana in places where smoking tobacco is permitted.<\/p>\n Last year, the state Department of Labor separately announced in guidance that New York employers are no longer allowed to\u00a0drug test most workers for marijuana<\/a>, with limited exceptions. Even prior to the enactment of legalization, New York City officials had established a\u00a0local ban on pre-employment drug testing<\/a>\u00a0for cannabis.<\/p>\n With police specifically, there\u2019s been some controversy of drug policy as it respects cannabis laws, including in neighboring New Jersey following the state\u2019s move to legalize.<\/p>\n In May, New Jersey lawmakers introduced a series of bills meant to empower employers to punish workers\u2014including law enforcement and other first responders<\/a>\u00a0specifically\u2014 from using marijuana off duty in compliance with state law.<\/p>\n The legislation was filed after\u00a0a document was released by the state attorney general\u2019s office<\/a>\u00a0explaining how New Jersey\u2019s adult-use cannabis law currently allows police to use marijuana when they are not on the job.<\/p>\n Back in New York, retail cannabis shops have not yet opened as regulators work to finalize rules and start to approve licenses. However, adults 21 and older\u00a0can\u00a0possess and publicly consume marijuana<\/a>, as well as gift it to other adults as long as they aren\u2019t being compensated.<\/p>\n Some unlicensed businesses have reportedly been exploiting that gifting provision by selling non-marijuana products in exchange for \u201cfree\u201d cannabis. Regulators recently said that they\u2019ve\u00a0issued dozens of warning letters<\/a>\u00a0to such businesses.<\/p>\n Drug Decriminalization Could Help Resolve \u2018Obvious Challenge\u2019 To Addiction Treatment, Top Federal Official Says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Wikimedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New York Firefighters Won\u2019t Be Tested For Marijuana, Department Says Following NYPD Leak<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A union representing firefighters is claiming credit for a New York City legal directive ordering government agencies, including the New York City Fire Department (NYFD) and New York Police Department (NYPD) to cease drug testing workers for marijuana. In a memo distributed to members on Thursday, the Uniformed Firefighters AssociationContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55884,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55883\/revisions\/55884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: New York Firefighters Won\u2019t Be Tested For Marijuana, Department Says Following NYPD Leak<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"