Lawyers from the Police Benevolent Association have filed a lawsuit against NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban and Mayor Adams over recent policy changes relating to the use of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids by active duty officers. From NY Daily News:
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.
If officers are caught violating the new rule by, for example, deviating from a prescribed dosage, they can face firing, the memo says.
On one hand: sure, most workers probably shouldn't be required to run their ongoing healthcare treatments by their employers. On the other hand: this sounds like it wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't already a problem.
NYPD union sues Adams administration over new 'zero tolerance' policy on steroid use among cops [Chris Sommerfeldt / NY Daily News]