Lafayette police officer fired for failed drug test has reinstatement confirmed by judge
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- The long legal wrangling over a Lafayette police officer who was fired for failing a drug test, and then reinstated, appears to be over.
District Court judge Michelle Breaux affirmed the Lafayette Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board’s decision to reinstate Lafayette police officer Bernard Anderson, court records show.
Anderson was fired in December 2020, after he completed a required drug screening and the test came back positive for marijuana metabolite.
He was reinstated after an appeal about a year later when he argued before the Lafayette Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board that he was using CBD to help him sleep. The Lafayette Consolidated Government and police department filed an appeal to have the officers firing upheld, which Breaux's ruling denied.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is a legal derivative of the hemp plant, a cousin of marijuana. According to the Harvard Medical School, studies suggest that CBD may help with both falling asleep and staying asleep.