Life's a real downer these days for Anthony Chiofalo, the NYPD anti-terrorist detective who claims he tested positive for drugs and was booted from the force because his wife laced his meatballs with marijuana.

"This hasn't been fun," a sullen Chiofalo told The Post early yesterday after leaving his Long Island home and heading to Queens.

Wife Catherine remained behind closed doors in their modest ranch-style house, leaving only briefly to drive their teenage son to school.

Both are anxiously waiting to learn whether the 22-year NYPD veteran's career has gone up in smoke.

Chiofalo. 48, was automatically suspended without pay in the summer of 2005 after he failed a random drug test.

During a departmental trial, his wife confessed that she had substituted marijuana for oregano in his meatballs - without his knowledge - so he'd fail a drug test and be forced to retire.

She testified that she did it because she was afraid he'd die in the line of duty, sources said.

She said her fears were fueled by her husband's obsession with his job with the elite Joint Terrorism Task Force, which he joined after his younger firefighter brother Nicholas was killed on 9/11.

She told officials she never expected Chiofalo to be fired.

The couple enjoyed a brief high earlier this week when an administrative judge bought their dopey meatball defense and recommended that Chiofalo be reinstated.

But the judge doesn't have the final say. That belongs to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who is being urged by police prosecutors to overturn the ruling.

A longtime neighbor said few residents of the working class community knew Chiofalo was a cop.

"They kept it quiet," she said.

She noted that Catherine Chiofalo, 46, "always respected [her husband]. She always stood by him."

"He was devastated" and became withdrawn after his brother died, she said.

Retired FDNY captain John Vigiano, who lost two sons in the terrorist attack - one of them Chiofalo's partner, Joseph Vigiano - said the axed cop had been consumed by his work as an anti-terrorism first responder.

He recalled visiting Chiofalo on the job and how the cop told him, "Don't worry, Mr. Vig, we'll get the guys who did this to you and your family."

Vigiano added, "After Sept. 11th, he took me and my family under his wing and made sure we were all right every day, even though he was grieving for his own loss."

Detective Anthony Chiofalo former 75pct officer