FDNY Probie Sues to Get Job Back

A probationary firefighter, fired after he tested positive for marijuana during a random drug test, has sued the city for his job back, saying it was a false positive because he was taking a hemp-seed dietary supplement.
July 11, 2003
probationary firefighter, fired after he tested positive for marijuana during a random drug test, has sued the city for his job back, saying it was a false positive because he was taking a hemp-seed dietary supplement.

In his lawsuit filed yesterday at Brooklyn Supreme Court, Kevin Barry, 30, includes a letter from a doctor who says the firefighter's consumption of "Ruth's Creative Energy Bar" and hemp-oil pills could result in the positive reading.

Barry says he wants a hearing and insists the Fire Department never told him not to take hemp-oil products.

The city Corporation Counsel declined to comment yesterday pending receipt of the suit.

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