Paranoid NJ employers getting ‘reefer madness’ due to legal weed (Opinion)

There’s a paranoia spreading across New Jersey in the wake of the sale of legalized recreational marijuana.

It’s a madness that should be reserved only for old black-and-white propaganda films.

It seemed to start with acting Attorney General Matt Platkin’s memo, reminding police departments across the state to not punish their officers for partaking in legal recreational marijuana — providing it was entirely on their off-duty hours and if they were never actively high while on-duty.

This was enough to set off bells and whistles among politicians and bureaucrats who have been fighting over the issue ever since.

Things have gotten worse.

Now there’s a municipality that is not only telling police officers to ignore their Attorney General, but they’re telling all of their workers that they don’t care about the legalization law and that their drug policy still stands.

No one on their off-time will be allowed to partake in legalized marijuana, even when their jobs don’t involve firearms or even public safety.

From Michael Symons’ article:

Woodland Park, a borough in Passaic County, told its workforce that its drug use policy hasn’t changed – whether for police on patrol, Department of Public Works employees operating heavy equipment, office staff meeting with residents or recreation staff working with kids.

Really Woodland Park? You have no accurate definitive test that will let you know one of your employees was actively high on the job yet you’ll just unfairly assume they were?

Here, go pee in a cup and the trace amount of THC from a completely now legal product that you may have consumed four weeks ago while on vacation will be enough for us to fire you.

And what’s the public interest here? There’s no safety concern because one of your employees might be speaking with a resident about some municipal matter. Are you kidding me?

This puritanical backlash since the sale of legalized marijuana began has already gotten way out of hand.

Times have changed. Accept it. I’m not suggesting it’s okay for anyone to show up at work while actually high. It’s not. But if you don’t have a test that can actually prove that then grow up.

Alcohol is a far more dangerous drug that has ruined and taken far more lives than marijuana.

Just because they figured out how to test for BAC and they haven’t yet perfected an equivalent one for marijuana doesn’t mean that this needs to continue to be demonized.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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