Charlie Davis was a lead clerk in NJ Transit’s procurement office last October when he began using medicinal marijuana to treat the pain from nerve damage associated with his end-stage renal disease. In December, because he had been bumped from his clerk’s job, he applied for a position in the agency’s railroad division and learned he would have to take a drug test.
The 57-year-old Newark man, who has worked for NJ Transit for five years, identifies himself as a Christian and believes he is going through a temporary trial. He said he was upfront with the agency’s medical officer.
“I told them I was taking prescribed medical marijuana,” said Davis, who was issued a state card last September authorizing him to purchase the drug and get treatment from a certified physician in the state Department of Health’s Medicinal Marijuana Program. “I wanted them to know that. I was not hiding anything from them. I showed them the identification and everything.”
Photo Credit: Michael Karas/Bergen Record