Chicago cop who tested positive for marijuana can keep job, police board rules

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July 23, 2025

A Chicago police officer who faced dismissal after testing positive for marijuana can remain on the job, the Chicago Police Board ruled in its first weed-related decision since the drug was legalized.

Police Supt. Larry Snelling had pushed to fire Officer Marshall Andrews Jr. for failing a random drug test in August 2021, but the board instead voted Thursday to suspend the veteran cop for 90 days.

“While the board has discharged officers from CPD in the past for using cannabis, medical and recreational use of cannabis is now permitted by Illinois state law,” the board wrote in its written ruling, noting that future discipline will be assessed “on a case-by-case basis.”

Still, the ruling could set a precedent for two other pending disciplinary cases in which officers face firing for allegedly using cannabis.

During an evidentiary hearing in May, Andrews speculated that he unintentionally ate cannabis-laced food from a barbecue in Michigan just days before he was tested. A doctor who testified on Andrews’ behalf said the officer told him he ate a brownie, although Andrews didn’t make the same claim to police investigators.

A friend who invited Andrews to the barbecue said he “does not use drugs,” the board said. And Andrews’ sister, a former Chicago cop, said he comes from a law enforcement family and is “a phenomenal father to his kids.”

Still, the board determined that Andrews’ claim that he unwittingly ingested weed was “not a credible explanation for the positive test result.” Its members voted 8-0 to suspend him but acknowledged in the ruling that his case was novel.

“Officers who use cannabis are no longer violating a law they swore to uphold,” the board wrote. “In addition, because of legalization there is less risk that officers who use cannabis will become involved with a person or enterprise engaged in the illegal sale, delivery, or manufacture of drugs.

“Nevertheless, CPD’s policy of prohibiting cannabis use continues to be justified and officers who violate this policy are subject to significant discipline, up to and including discharge.”

Andrews’ attorney, Tim Grace, said police officers “should be allowed to use a perfectly legal substance, and I think the police board recognizes that.”

“Police officers who use it during their off-hours … use it for multiple different reasons — for pain, for sleep, for relaxation — just like the rest of society,” Grace said.

Meanwhile, Snelling has also moved to fire Officers David Gibson and Elmer Carrillo Jr. for failing drug tests for marijuana.

Carrillo’s evidentiary hearing before the board is scheduled to start on Sept. 24. Gibson has opted to have his case heard by an arbitrator — a move allowed last year by Cook County Judge Michael Mullen, who gave cops facing the most serious misconduct allegations that option.

The acrimonious battle over how to handle those types of cases has now wound its way to an appellate court panel, which will determine whether to overturn Mullen’s ruling requiring arbitration cases to be held in public.