Bernalillo County New Mexico Board of Commissioners Approved No Cannabis Testing of Firefighters

The Bernalillo County New Mexico Board of Commissioners approved no Cannabis testing of firefighters. The County staff and representatives for the firefighters’ union announced it reached a tentative agreement on the new contract late last month, but the plan ran into delays over concerns that its provisions could cause the county to lose nearly $1 million in annual funding.

According to a county summary, adopting the MOA “may result in the New Mexico Department of Transportation [NMDOT] determining that Bernalillo County Fire ambulances violate their random testing rules for Motor Carriers,” which “may result in the loss of the motor carrier license under NMDOT, which may result in yearly losses of up to $900,000 or more yearly (according to last year’s data).”

"In doing our research, we found inconsistent information coming fromthe New Mexico Department of transportation,” explained County Manager Cindy Chavez, who hired late last year, after adoption of the new employment policy. “If there is any riskfinancially, I felt obligated to bring itforward to sunshine that.”

“I want to say to all of you that I thinkthe risk is very very low. It’s minimal,” she added, “but we are obligated to betransparent, both with the public andespecially with our commission.”

Earlier this month, a New Mexico House committee approved a separate proposal that would protect medical marijuana patients from being penalized at work for off-duty use of cannabis. That measure is from House Majority Floor Leader Reena Szczepanski (D), who previously worked at the reform organization Drug Policy Alliance.

“Our first responders are dealing with stress, chronic pain, insomnia, and PTSD,” Szczepanski told reporters. “Barring them from using medical cannabis on their own time to manage symptoms is incredibly harmful and unnecessary. It’s time to make a change.”

While the change hadn’t yet been adopted by any jurisdictions in New Mexico until now other areas of the country such as Pittsburgh; Phoenix; Prince William County, Virginia; New York City and other areas have relaxed THC-related drug testing following legalization and eliminated  random tests. 

In August, Marijuana Moment published a document behind a decision by Home Depot, one of the largest employers in the United States, to remove cannabis from screening panels entirely and stop pre-employment drug testing of most of its workers.

In 2021, corporate behemoth Amazon announced that it would stop testing many of its workers for marijuana—and also begin lobbying the federal government for cannabis legalization.

Multiple companies and municipalities are reviewing options with legalization. 

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