New York City’s largest cop union is suing Police Commissioner Edward Caban and Mayor Adams for implementing a new “zero tolerance” policy on NYPD officers using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, the Daily News has learned.
In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, lawyers for the Police Benevolent Association alleged the previously undisclosed policy flies in the face of a legal agreement the union entered into with the city in 2011.
The 2011 contract prohibited officers from ingesting or possessing any anabolic steroid or other forms of human growth hormones without a medical prescription. However, the old standard didn’t require officers to run any such prescription by their NYPD district surgeon before starting to use it.
The new protocol — which was enacted on Dec. 26, 2023, and described in an internal memo reviewed by The News as a “zero tolerance drug policy” — beefs up the old rule by affirming that officers must “immediately notify their district surgeon” of any steroid prescription they receive and provide “all supporting medical documentation” to the surgeon backing up the need for the drug.
I’m kinda conflicted on this… there’s a decent amount of medications that, if your employer knew you were prescribed them, would typically result in being discriminated against or fired. Stimulant meds for ADHD, HRT, chronic pain meds, etc.
If the meds are prescribed for a legitimate need I feel that should remain undisclosed. They aren’t the military (even if they should be treated as such), the government doesn’t literally own them.
They aren’t the military but they do wield lethal force on behalf of the state. It’s not a normal employee/employer relationship at all. With that level of responsibility it seems reasonable that maximum transparency should be expected of them.
Absolutely. There should be real disciplinary actions backed with a potential Leavenworth equivalent.
I still think exposing medical history is kinda skeevy, and would absolutely be used in a malicious and discriminatory way.
Bringing in a valid prescription is all that is ever needed when faced with a positive drug test. In my experience you never have to disclose what it is for. For someone representing the state carrying a fire arm, what drugs you consume should definitely be disclosed
Must be terrible to become a victim of institutional oppression.
My heart goes out to all the class traitors that are negatively affected by this systemic injustice.
They have a monopoly on violence, so they should absolutely have to disclose when they take a substance known for making people aggressive, unstable and violent.