TRENTON – Legislation is being drafted that would change state law and allow police departments to prohibit law enforcement officers from using marijuana for recreational purposes while off-duty.

Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn, R-Monmouth, said the bill is necessary because guidance from Attorney General Matthew Platkin telling police departments not to penalize officers for off-duty marijuana use would have disastrous legal and financial implications for local governments and future criminal cases.

“It’s in response to some of the issues that have been raised to us by local law enforcement about the intrusion into their operations by the attorney general’s taking I guess a laissez-faire approach to marijuana use by law enforcement officials,” Flynn said.

Flynn said a number of officials reached out to her legislative office because of confusion triggered by Platkin’s memo.

Get our free mobile app

“It almost would have been better left unsaid,” she said. “The administration has had over four years to develop policies and procedures and get feedback from employers, especially public employers, on the issue of legalizing marijuana, and it seems that this was really a missed opportunity to figure out how best to roll this out when to comes to law enforcement officers, even DPW workers who use heavy equipment.”

Jersey City’s public safety director issued a directive barring off-duty marijuana use by police, and other municipalities have since done the same.

Platkin’s directive says police cannot use marijuana while on duty and that departments should discipline officers who are intoxicated on the job, as they do for alcohol use. But trace amounts of marijuana remain detectable in blood tests long after a person is no longer high.

The guidance from Platkin is an interpretation of the legalization law enacted last year. Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, R-Monmouth, who will also sponsor Flynn’s bill, said “it’s appalling.”

“This is just another example of how problematic this poorly written legislation has become and how the referendum hid information from voters,” Scharfenberger said. “First, it was the attempted removal of parental notification – now, it is greenlighting of drug use by police disregarding the issues it will cause.”

Next Monday is the next time legislation can be officially proposed in the Assembly, as a quorum call is scheduled that ends that house’s budget break.

The next date for a full round of committee hearings in the Senate and Assembly, other than the ongoing budget hearings, is Monday, May 9.

Inside Betty White's Gorgeous Carmel-by-the-Sea Home

Take a look inside the late Betty White's peacefully gorgeous Carmel-by-the-Sea home.

The 2002-2003 New Jersey Nets: The last time the NBA Finals came through NJ

In 2012 the Nets made their Brooklyn debut, but before that, New Jersey was the home of the Nets dating back to 1977.

The franchise was born in 1967, under the name the New Jersey Americans. They played their games in Teaneck as part of the American Basketball Association. One year later they moved to Long Island, becoming the New York Nets.

It was there the team won two ABA championships in 1973-74 and 1975-76. The very next year the Nets, along with three other basketball franchises, were absorbed into the NBA as part of a merger deal, abolishing the ABA. 

When the Nets first moved to New Jersey, they played their home games at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway. Then in 1981, they moved into the home many of us remember them in the most, the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford (later named the Continental Airlines Arena, then Izod center). 

After years of losing, The Nets made it to two straight NBA Finals in 2001-02 and 2002-03. In 2002-03, the final time they sniffed the championship, the team lost to the San Antonio Spurs.

It would be the last time the Nets sniffed the title, but their efforts added them to New Jersey lore forever.

More From WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM