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.

  • Flying Squid
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    1287 months ago

    Yeah! Whoever heard of a zero tolerance policy for drug use?

    Oh right…

      • @unreasonabro@lemmy.world
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        17 months ago

        It’s like the conservatives always say! Too big to fail, too criminal to be brought to justice, accountability will lead to lawlessness, rules are made to be broken, party of law and order, don’t tread on me…

        and the ultimate classic, whatever you do - don’t be a hypocrite!

    • @Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      37 months ago

      D.A.R.E.

      I only remember 3 things about the D.A.R.E. program growing up:

      1. People will offer you all kinds of drugs for free, and marijuana is suuuuuper bad (bullshit propaganda lol)

      2. No idea what it stands for, other than Drugs Are Really Expensive

      3. Parody shirts like “D.A.R.E. to keep cops off donuts”

  • TunaCowboy
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    817 months ago

    On one hand, I can think of good reasons not to disclose HRT or any other personal medical information to your employer, ‘district surgeon’ or not.

    On the other hand, ACAB, get fukt.

    • @Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      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.

      • @ultranaut@lemmy.world
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        557 months ago

        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.

        • @Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          87 months ago

          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.

          • @Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world
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            37 months ago

            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

      • TunaCowboy
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        237 months ago

        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.

      • @Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        27 months ago

        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.

      • TunaCowboy
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        57 months ago

        HRT is utilized by a wide variety of people, it has more than one application.

      • I knew a black trans woman cop in Orlando almost fifteen years ago. She occasionally showed up at the trans support group meetings. I wasn’t really friends with her and we didn’t stay in touch after I moved so I have no idea what she’s up to now.

        Funny enough, the support group was run by a trans woman who was a staunch Republican and the leopards kept eating her face even back then.

  • catsarebadpeople
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    437 months ago

    Hmmm. The people who are called in to bust unions have the strongest union. There’s got to be a lesson here somewhere

  • @jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    That’s cool, cops mad because they want to be able to pump themselves full of illegal drugs known to cause increased aggression and paranoid delusions without facing any consequences. I mean, when has a cop ever faced consequences, so it must be truly mystifying to them that they’re being told to stop taking drugs tone down their rampant drug use.

    • @Aolley@lemmy.world
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      197 months ago

      If all cops ate seven grams of magic mushies I think the world would be a much better place for everyone who has to deal with cops

      • @MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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        177 months ago

        That high of a dose would cause such uncomfortable introspection that very few (if any) cops would want to continue being a cop after that.

        So yeah, I guess what I’m saying is that I agree with you. Much better for everybody.

  • @Kalysta@lemm.ee
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    267 months ago

    Wait. So the cop mayor finally does one thing right with his out of control police force, and is immediately sued by a bunch of roided up angry cops?

    Checks out.

  • @some_guy
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    77 months ago

    Their tiny cop brains can’t compete with the contradictions. I gotta say, I like seeing conflict between these two parties.

  • @Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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    67 months ago

    I once was making a left turn in a busy city road. As there was a break in the crowd, I made my turn, and out of the crowd, on the sidewalk, zipping down the opposite direction of the crowd comes a cyclist out on nowhere, and almost smashed into me. Of course the cyclist was at fault for being on the sidewalk and going against traffic, but in a cyclist city, those idiots are always blameless.

    Anyways, a roided up cop on a bike chases my car down and punches it, leaving a dent on it. I pull over and he immediately draws his gun and starts shouting at me. He punches my car again and continues raging. Anyways, turns out the cyclist was the one who broke the law so the cop couldn’t cite me, so instead he gave me a ticket for an illegal left turn, even though the sign above said it was perfectly fine.

  • @givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    -197 months ago

    Lots of guys juice in the military too, it’s not on standard drug tests because it’s not a “fun” drug.

    And even tho it’s obvious when someone is using, they just ignore it

        • gregorum
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          7 months ago

          This user is this community’s resident both-sideser, frequently making contrarian posts and comments, often using whataboutisms and other logical fallacies, in an attempt to muddy the waters in political discussions. They do it so often, they’ve gotten a reputation for it here.