Former Jersey City Cops Sue After Being Fired for Legal Cannabis Use

Two former Jersey City police officers who were fired last year for consuming cannabis while off-duty are now suing the city over claims that officials refused an order by the state’s Civil Service Commission to have them reinstated, The Jersey Journal reports.

In the lawsuit filed last week, plaintiffs Norhan Mansour and Omar Polanco claim that Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop (D) broke state law by having them fired, calling the city’s stance against off-duty cannabis use by cops “a ruse done solely to bring attention for [Fulop’s] gubernatorial campaign to the detriment of Jersey City employees as well as taxpayers who are now footing the bill of hundreds of thousands of dollars in backpay awards and attorney fees.”

The lawsuit seeks for both officers to be reinstated and for an unspecified amount to cover compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages, the report said.

It was established in 2022 by New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plakin that off-duty law enforcement officers could engage in cannabis use. But Jersey City’s public safety director last year challenged that policy, arguing police officers couldn’t be allowed to use cannabis even while off-duty because then they would not be allowed to possess firearms under federal law.

The latest lawsuit is the second time that Mansour and Polanco have sued the city over their firing; the first lawsuit, filed in November, claimed that officials did not fully comply with an Open Public Records Act request, the report said.