Meanwhile, cops in Jersey City are caught up in a fight over off duty cannabis use.

The city is filing a federal lawsuit against the state in a bid to stop police officers from using legal weed when they're not on the job.

Arguing that New Jersey's adult use marijuana industry goes against current federal laws.

As Ted Goldberg reports, the lawsuit could pave the way for future battles within police departments across the state.

Jersey City is fighting to keep its police officers from using cannabis even while they're off duty and the city is bringing that fight to federal court.

Any reasonable person would say that there should be carve outs with regards to specific professions.

I mean, think about a bus driver that takes your child to school.

There is not a carve out in New Jersey for the rules and laws prohibiting that.

While Jersey City has approved 40 dispensaries to sell within city limits, they're in the process of terminating five officers who tested positive for cannabis.

Mayor Steve Fulop says he's suing the state and the state's Civil Service Commission to clarify that federal law takes precedence over New Jersey law, which doesn't have carve outs for any job when it comes to cannabis usage.

When you talk about police officers and the split second decisions that they have to make, life and death often a part of that.

The fact that the laws from the state of New Jersey directly conflict with the ATF and federal law exposes Jersey City to millions of dollars in potential liability.

There is no existing test.

If anyone wants to become a billionaire, invent that test because everybody is looking.

Everybody around the country is looking for a test that can tell whether you smoked marijuana recently or previously.

Fulop announced the lawsuit two miles away from Jersey City's two recreational dispensaries that opened up earlier this year.

He says the issue is state law conflicting with federal law.

According to the gun control Act of 1968, you can't legally own a gun if you use a Schedule one drug.

And according to federal regulations, cannabis is still a schedule one drug.

Independent of what I think of marijuana or anybody else.

That is the law.

If I provide ammunition to a person, I am breaking the law.

If I know that they are marijuana use, carrying a firearm is an absolute requirement of a police officer in the state of New Jersey.

You cannot be a police officer if you are not eligible to carry a firearm.

Five of our officers I chose to, even after receiving this notice, they chose to use cannabis and as a result, we can no longer arm them or provide them with ammunition.

The Federal lawsuit publicly names the five officers.

Two of them previously sued Jersey City and one reinstatement.

But the city is appealing.

Public safety Director James Shea says the issue is giving a firearm to admitted cannabis users, not cannabis usage itself.

They insist on claiming that we fired them because they use marijuana, which we clearly did not.

As a matter of fact, when they were terminated, we offered every single one of them any job in public safety that does not require to carry a firearm.

We offered them those jobs and they all declined.

We reached out to the attorney representing the three suspended police officers and didn't hear back.

Director Shea is confident that Jersey City will win this case and void the reinstatement of the two other officers.

There are no facts in dispute.

We all agree that they smoked, that they utilized marijuana, cannabis, THC.

We all agree that they would need to carry a firearm to be police officers.

So it should be as simple as a judge clarifying the supremacy clause and that the federal law is supreme over the state law.

Attorney General Matt Platkin has said in the past that law enforcement agencies may not punish police officers for using cannabis if it's off the clock and doesn't affect job performance.

But that hasn't been written into law, which could lead to more municipalities suing to keep their officers from using cannabis.

In Jersey City, I'm Ted Goldberg.

NJ Spotlight News.