Suit: Forced me out over pot use
Laws and attitudes about marijuana for medical use have changed — and NYPD personnelpolicyhasnotkeptup,saysa new lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Ex-NYPD officer Robert Cascalenda says he was forced off the job for using medical marijuana, even though a department doctor said he could use it to cope with chronic medical issues as an alternative todangerousprescriptionpainkillers.
Cascalenda retired Sept. 17 at age 36 after 12 years on the job. He had suffered a series of injuries as a cop that led him to take an array of prescription pain drugs.
But when he turned to medical marijuana, the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau forced him to quit, Cascalenda says in the suit.
“I absolutely could have functioned as a clerical officer in the department ... There are hundreds of cops working in those roles,” Cascalenda said.
“Iknowalotofcopswhoare on opiates, guys with serious back issues, and they want to jointhemedical marijuanaprogram. But they can’t.”
Cascalenda, a Staten Island native who joined the NYPD in 2008, sprained his shoulder in 2010 working as a cop in Queens, and later suffered fractures in both shins while wrestling with a student resisting arrest after assaulting a teacher.
He suffered neck and back injuriesin2012whenanNYPD car in which he was riding was T-boned. Then in 2015 in Coney Island, he tore a ligament in one of his legs.
Cascalenda says doctors prescribed pain killers, including Oxycontin and tramadol. They also prescribed mood stabilizers to help him cope with job-related depression, posttraumatic stress disorder and panic attacks.
Cascalenda’s personal doctor worried the painkillers would harm his health or lead to an overdose, and suggested a switch to medical marijuana.
An NYPD surgeon, Dr. Joseph Hedderman, agreed that medical marijuana would be safer than prescription painkillers, the lawsuit claims.
So with his doctors’ blessing, Cascalenda got a state ID card allowing him to buy medical marijuana.
Afewmonthslater,hebegan using a vape pen and tablets purchased from Citiva Brooklyn, a medical marijuana purveyor on Flatbush Ave. a short block from the 78th Precinct stationhouse.
Then the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau got involved, the lawsuit says.
Cascalenda was ordered to take a drug test on Sept. 5, 2019 — and of course, he tested positive for marijuana.
A 2014 state law called the Compassionate Care Act protects employees with medical conditions requiring the use of medical marijuana. Employers are supposed to determine whether there are alternatives that would have allowed employees to continue to work.
But it soon was clear the NYPD would not apply the law to cops, says the lawsuit.
The department suspended him for 30 days without pay for the positive drug test. He was questioned overnight in an Internal Affairs Bureau office.
“When I showed them the ID card for medical marijuana, they said, ‘Are you giving us a fake ID?’” he said.
He countered that Hedderman, the NYPD doctor, had approved his use of marijuana, but that was ignored. Hedderman did not return a request for comment.
Cascalenda also says that while he was on the toilet that night, he claims, his IAB interrogators pushed open the restroom door and made fun of him.
He tested positive for marijuana again Oct. 29, 2019.
The next day, he suffered a severe asthma attack and was diagnosedwithpneumonia.He called 911 and said he was suicidal.
Medics took him to Richmond University Medical Center, where he stayed in a coma for a week. For three days, Cascalenda was handcuffed to his bed, the lawsuit says.
When he got out of the hospital, he was suspended without pay for 30 more days.
During an official interview, investigators told him he had to stop using medical marijuana, the lawsuit said.
“They said even though it’s legal in the state, it’s still illegal federally, so we have to suspend you,” Cascalenda said.
State Sen. Diane Savino (DStaten Island), who sponsored the Compassionate Care Act, said that if Cascalenda followed the law, the NYPD had no reason to force him out absent other circumstances that would stop him from being a cop.
“They should treat this the same way they would treat a prescription drug or any other narcotic for a specific condition,” she said. “They should not be looking at this as the illegal use of drugs.”
Cascalenda’s lawyer, John Scola, said the lawsuit seeks compensation for Cascalenda’s ordeal and to force the NYPD to allow cops lawfully prescribed medical marijuana to take it without retaliation.
“The NYPD is consistently inept when dealing with the mental health of police officer,” Scola said.
Cascalenda retired on disability Sept. 17 after concluding the NYPD wouldn’t let him continue to use medical marijuana.
“Medical marijuana has given me a 75% improvement,” he said. “The pain would just drain me like a battery. It’s really made a difference.”
An NYPD spokesperson said the department will review Cascalenda’s lawsuit whenthedepartmentisserved.