Employee Marijuana Polices at State and Local Police Departments Softening

Summary: The Pullman Police Department is considering allowing its officers to recreationally use marijuana, while other departments around the state are softening their applicant past-use marijuana restrictions.

I) Local Changes and Background

Pullman PD policy

·        I-502 background

II) Issues with Change

·         Federal funding

·         Federal obligations

III) Changing Policies across the State

·         State Patrol exclusionary restrictions

·         Seattle Police exclusionary restrictions

IV) Going Forward

·         Seattle policy going forward

·         Pullman policy going forward

Sources:

Washington State Patrol Sergeant William Knudson

·         (360) 596-4014

Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Academy Commander David Bales

·         (206) 835-7289

Pullman Chief of Police Gary Jenkins

·         (509) 334-0802

Seattle Police Detective Drew Fowler

·         (206) 684-5520

Recreational marijuana use might not prevent someone from serving in the Pullman Police Department in the near future.

Law enforcement agencies around the state of Washington are softening their employee marijuana policies in the wake of a burgeoning state marijuana marketplace.

Pullman Chief of Police Gary Jenkins said the department will continue to drug test aspiring Pullman police officers for marijuana but also said a positive result would not automatically prevent someone from serving. 

“It is definitely going to be different now that marijuana is legal,” Jenkins said. “We wouldn’t necessarily exclude someone for legal marijuana use.”

Initiative 502, passed in 2012, legalized marijuana for recreational use and established a state-controlled system for production, processing and sale of the drug. The initiative did not, however, require public or private employers to stop exclusionary drug testing for marijuana.

“I think we’re going to be looking at it similarly to alcohol,” Jenkins said, referring to officer recreational marijuana use. “That it is not being abused, that they’re not under the influence [while on duty] and that it iibused, that theirder the influence [while on duty] and that its not impacting their work in any other way..ed it in the last os not impacting their work in any other way.”    

Most police departments seem unwilling to make as much of a change as Jenkins mentioned. Many municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies receive federal funding, which would immediately be at risk if they allowed their officers to use marijuana. Marijuana remains a Schedule I illegal drug at the federal level.

“I’ve heard the vast majority of offices will continue to support federal law,” said David Bales, the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Academy Commander. 

However, federal funding is not the largest reason certain departments continue banning marijuana.

“We are required to enforce and respect the laws, including municipal, county, state and federal,” said Detective Drew Fowler, a spokesperson for the Seattle Police Department.

Washington State Patrol Sergeant William Knudson echoed Fowler’s sentiment, saying the State Patrol’s duty to enforce federal laws is the most substantial reason to continue banning marijuana use among its officers.

According to Knudson, however, the State Patrol did reduce its applicant restrictions from banning anyone who used marijuana in last three years to just banning anyone who used it in the last one. They also eliminated their policy excluding any applicant who had used the drug more than 15 times.

The Seattle Police Department also softened their stance on applicant past marijuana use after the passage of Initiative 502, Fowler said. The department requires applicants to not have used the drug with 12 months of taking the Police Officer Civil Service Exam.

 Fowler indicated that more changes to the department’s drug policy could be on the way in the future.

“Do I think that in time there will be changes?” Fowler said. “Maybe.”

But Fowler prioritized following the current national statute, saying that ignoring a federal law “is a dangerous road to go down.”

Change seems to be moving at a more rapid pace in Pullman. When asked if in the next few months there could be recreational marijuana users who are also Pullman police officers, Jenkins said yes.